Isaac Rosenberg: from ‘Break of Day in the Trenches’ to the German Spring Offensive 1918
Lecture presented by IRSAC, in association with IWM London
2.30pm, Conference Room
This year’s lecture, in association with IWM London, is given in two parts by Jean Moorcroft Wilson and Max Egremont
The Last Throw – The German Offensive March 1918, Max Egremont
In the war’s last years, there was a transformation, from Haig’s spring message that the British had their ‘backs to the wall’ to August 8 when Ludendorff spoke of ‘the black day of the German army’. Max Egremont will ask if the first success of that spring brought the Allies near to defeat and if it was a humiliation in particular for the British or if the attacks were doomed before they began, as American troops started to come across and the Central Powers faced economic pressure and crumbling morale.
'Through these pale cold days' to Rosenberg's Death, Jean Moorcroft Wilson
When the poet Isaac Rosenberg enlisted in the British Army in October 1915 it was not, he insisted, ‘for patriotic reasons’. Jean Moorcroft Wilson will demonstrate how Rosenberg’s life as a private at the Front in France, from June 1916 to his death during the German Spring Offensive of 1918 did little to change his mind. His experiences did, however, have a profound effect on his poetry, which gives eloquent voice to the ‘poor bloody Tommy’ and is among the greatest of the First World War.
With originality of language, thought and technique he penned some of the most devastating, yet humane words about front-line experience ever written.
Event type: Talks & screenings
Location: IWM London