A QUESTION OF METHOD: READING WAR POETRY AT UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL

In the several years of leading a practice class on poetry at undergraduate level, I have noticed that, moreoften than not, students doubt their ability to understand and relate to a poem, even more than they do inregard to any other type of literary text. It goes beyond the natural reserve of someone who has not hadsufficient practice in the field of critical analysis and the resulting reaction is equivalent to disqualifyingoneself from the race before it has even started. The following pages are dedicated to one of the strategieswhich helped overcome this obstacle and which promotes close reading in a manner that the students mayfind engaging. It was employed in the discussion of war poetry with second-year students enrolled in theBA English Program at the Faculty of Letters, “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati, Romania. Fourtexts were selected: Grodek, by Georg Trakl (in English by Michael Hamburger), Anthem for DoomedYouth, by Wilfred Owen, Leaving for the Front, by Alfred Lichtenstein (translated by Patrick Bridgwater)and Gala, by Guillaume Apollinaire (in Oliver Bernard‟s translation). These texts, as well as a short,relevant biographical note for each of the poets were the only aids employed in an exercise that constantlymanaged to result in constructive exchanges of ideas and a deeper understanding of how critical analysiscan be employed without becoming tedious or overly stressful.