War poet A war poet is a poet writing in time of and on the subject of war . The term , which is applied especially to those in military service during World War I , was documented as early as 1848 in reference to German revolutionary poet , Georg Herwegh . World War I . In England . For the first time , a substantial number of important English poets were soldiers , writing about their experiences of war . A number of them died on the battlefield , most famously Rupert Brooke , Edward Thomas , Isaac Rosenberg , Wilfred Owen , and Charles Sorley . Others including Robert Graves , Ivor Gurney and Siegfried Sassoon survived but were scarred by their experiences , and this was reflected in their poetry . Robert H . Ross characterised the English " war poets " as a subgroup of the " Georgian Poetry " writers . Many poems by British war poets were published in newspapers and then collected into anthologies . Several of these early anthologies were published during the war and were very popular , though the tone of the poetry changed as the war progressed . One of the wartime anthologies was " The Muse in Arms " , published in 1917 . Several anthologies were also published in the years after the war had ended . In November 1985 , a slate memorial was unveiled in Poet ' s Corner commemorating 16 poets of the Great War : Richard Aldington , Laurence Binyon , Edmund Blunden , Rupert Brooke , Wilfrid Gibson , Robert Graves , Julian Grenfell , Ivor Gurney , David Jones , Robert Nichols , Wilfred Owen , Herbert Read , Isaac Rosenberg , Siegfried Sassoon , Charles Sorley and Edward Thomas . In other countries . Canadian war poets of this period included John McCrae , who wrote " In Flanders Fields " , and Robert W . Service who worked as an ambulance driver for the Canadian Red Cross and was a war correspondent for the Canadian government . Russia also produced a number of significant war poets including Nikolay Gumilyov ( whose war poems were assembled in the collection " The Quiver " ( 1916 ) ) , Alexander Blok , Ilya Ehrenburg ( who published war poems in his book " On the Eve " ) , and Nikolay Semenovich Tikhonov ( who published the book " Orda " ( The horde ) in 1922 ) . The Spanish Civil War . The Spanish Civil War produced a substantial volume of poetry in English ( as well as in Spanish ) . There were English - speaking poets serving in the Spanish Civil War on both sides . Among those fighting with the Republicans as volunteers in the International Brigades were Clive Branson , John Cornford , Charles Donnelly , Alex McDade and Tom Wintringham . On the Nationalist side , the most famous English language poet of the Spanish Civil War remains South African bard Roy Campbell . World War II . In England . By World War II the role of " war poet " was so well - established in the public mind that " Where are the war poets ? " became a topic of discussion . . Robert Graves gave a radio talk ' Why has this War produced no War Poets ? ' in October 1941 and Stephen Spender also addressed the question at about the same time ( as did T . S . Eliot a year later ) . Alun Lewis and Keith Douglas are the standard critical choices amongst British war poets of this time . In America . The American poet Karl Shapiro made a reputation based on poetry that he wrote during the war and published in his debut book of verse , " V - Letter and Other Poems " ( 1945 ) . His book won the Pulitzer Prize that same year . Also , while serving in the U . S . Army , the American poet Randall Jarrell published his second book of poems , " Little Friend , Little Friend " ( 1945 ) based on his wartime experiences . The book includes one of Jarrell ' s best known war poems , " The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner . " In his follow - up book , " Losses " ( 1948 ) , he also focused on the war . The poet Robert Lowell stated publicly that he thought Jarrell had written " the best poetry in English about the Second World War . " Later American war poets . The Korean War produced the American war poets Rolando Hinojosa and William Wantling . The Vietnam war produced a number of war poets , including Michael Casey whose début collection , " Obscenities " , drew on his work as military police officer in Vietnam ' s Quang Nga province . The book won the 1972 Yale Younger Poets Award . Other prominent Vietnam War poets include W . D . Ehrhart , Yusef Komunyakaa , and Bruce Weigl . Most recently , the Iraq War has produced some notable war poets including Brian Turner whose début collection , " Here , Bullet " , is based on his experience as an infantry team leader with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team from November 2003 until November 2004 in Iraq . The book won numerous awards including the 2005 Beatrice Hawley Award , the 2006 Maine Literary Award in Poetry , and the 2006 Northern California Book Award in Poetry . The book also was an Editor ' s Choice in " The New York Times " and received significant attention from the press including reviews and notices on NPR and in " The New Yorker " , " The Global and Mail " , and the " Library Journal " . In " The New Yorker " , Dana Goodyear wrote that , " As a war poet , [ Brian Turner ] sidesteps the classic distinction between romance and irony , opting instead for the surreal . "