While Americans observe Memorial Day today, a holiday commemorating U.S. men and women who died while in military service, I thought I would share eight of my favorite poems on the subject of war and loss. The Links on the poem titles will open a new window with the text of the poem.
8. “Soldier, What Did You See?” by Don Blanding, a soldier who served in both World War I and World War II
7. “War is Kind,” by Stephen Crane, a chilling study of the price of the Civil War
6. “Wait for Me,” by Konstantin Simonov, World War II
5. “Memorial Day for the War Dead,” by Yehuda Amichai, a German Jew
4. “Patterns,” by Amy Lowell, one of the best poems about war from the point of view of a civilian
3. “In Flanders Field” by John McCrae, one of the most famous poems to come out of World War I
2. “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d,” by Walt Whitman
1. “The Charge of the Lilght Brigade,” Lord, Alfred Tennyson
Further discussion on this theme, as well as a list of many more war remembrance poems can be found in this article from about.com: http://poetry.about.com/od/ourpoemcollections/a/poemsofwar.htm