Isaac Rosenberg's Anticipation of a War That Would Leave "His Children Dead"


Isaac Rosenberg's self portrait


On Receiving the First News of the War 

by Isaac Rosenberg

Snow is a strange white word.
No ice or frost
Has asked of bud or bird
For Winter’s cost.

Yet ice and frost and snow
From earth to sky
This Summer land doth know.
No man knows why.

In all men’s hearts it is.
Some spirit old
Hath turned with malign kiss
Our lives to mould.

Red fangs have torn His face.
God’s blood is shed.
He mourns from His lone place
His children dead.

O! ancient crimson curse!
Corrode, consume.
Give back this universe
Its pristine bloom.

While many World War I poets describe the horrors of battle and the weariness of a seemingly endless war, Isaac Rosenberg’s poem, “On Receiving the First News of the War”, anticipates the tragedy of war. Isaac Rosenberg grew up in extreme poverty when his family moved from Russia to London’s Jewish ghetto. Rosenberg became interested in painting and through awards and a sponsorship he was able to attend a school for painting where his interests gravitated toward poetry. In 1913, Rosenberg spent a year in Cape Town, South Africa due to his failing health. While in South Africa in 1914 he received news of the war, and as the title of the poem suggests, “On Receiving the First News of the War” is Rosenberg’s reaction to the news of the start of World War I. Despite the anti-war sentiment depicted in this poem, Rosenberg returned to London in 1915 and enlisted in the war to provide money for his family.

The soldier in the bottom right corner is believed to be
            Isaac Rosenberg working as a stretcher bearer.

            Rosenberg served as a stretcher bearer during the war, and his poem “Dead Man’s Dump” depicts horrors that he witnessed while serving as a stretcher bearer. Due to the fact that “On Receiving the First News of the War” was written in the beginning of the war, it is interesting that the tone of the poem is so accurately foreboding of the horrors that Rosenberg would later witness in the war.

           It seems that one of the most vivid and tragic parts of “On Receiving the First News of the War”, is the fourth stanza. Rosenberg writes “Red fangs have torn His face.” The capitalization of “His” alerts the reader to the fact that the person described is most likely God, showing that even God will not be unaffected by the coming war. In the next line, Rosenberg says “God’s blood is shed.” This line bears religious symbolism in the sacrificial connotation of the bloodshed of God. Stanza four is concluded with the lines “He mourns from His lone place/His children dead.” The words “lone place” imply that God is removed from the situation and grieves from afar, but the last line of the stanza is a clear indication of the tragic deaths that will result from the war.

            Isaac Rosenberg was killed in battle in 1918 while on night patrol in France. Rosenberg’s poem depicts his antiwar sentiments, but his poem leaves the reader with the desperate hope that the war will eventually “give back this universe / Its pristine bloom.” While Rosenberg did not live to see the end of the war, he saw his fears – depicted in “On Receiving the First News of the War” – realized during the years he served in the war, and today, Rosenberg is considered one of the greatest trench poets of World War I.


For more information on Isaac Rosenberg:

https://poets.org/poet/isaac-rosenberg

https://movehimintothesun.com/2011/05/09/on-receiving-news-of-the-war-isaac-rosenberg/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Rosenberg#:~:text=Isaac%20Rosenberg%20(25%20November%201890,during%20the%20First%20World%20War.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/07/war-poet-isaac-rosenberg-film-footage#:~:text=War%20poet%20Isaac%20Rosenberg%20recognised%20in%20archive%20footage%20from%20the%20trenches,-This%20article%20is&text=Rosenberg%20%E2%80%93%20known%20for%20his%20%E2%80%9Ctrench,Arras%20on%201%20April%2C%201918.


Comments

  1. Vic YSeptember 21, 2020 at 12:57 PM

    Hi Danielle,

    You mentioned that Rosenberg enlisted in the war in 1915 despite being so against it, as we can see in his poem. It's so odd that someone who was so against war and wrote such a tragic poem foreboding the horrors of the war (as you said) would turn around and enlist in said war. I did some outside research and men could still work on the Home Front during the war. Although, from your information on Rosenberg's poor upbringing, he probably would be restricted to the hard manual labor (which paid little)*. Do you think his poor health just one year prior pushed him to join the war to make money? (I couldn't find how much British soldiers made so I'm not sure if they got paid more than jobs on the Home Front).

    Source *: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zqhyb9q/articles/zdtskmn

    - Vic

    ReplyDelete
  2. Natalie VillaflorSeptember 21, 2020 at 7:23 PM


    Your point that Rosenberg’s poem anticipates the tragedy of the war reminded me of “A Satire of Circumstance” from The Great War and Modern Memory. Paul Fussell describes the uncanniness of Thomas Hardy’s poem Satire of Circumstance as a volume that can be seen as a foresight to the terrors and death as a result of the war through his depiction of death by tuberculosis. Rosenberg’s poem demonstrates a similar quality of uncanniness as he predicts the longevity and weariness of the war.
    After further research, I discovered the job of a stretcher barer in WWI was extremely difficult. Harold Chapin wrote in a letter to Alice Chapin describing the physical and emotional toll of this job, “It took six of us to carry one man. You have no idea the physical fatigue entailed in carrying a twelve stone man a thousand yards across muddy fields.” Not only did they have to carry the wounded soldier, they had to ensure they did not move the stretcher in the process as it would increase his wounds. This leads me to question whether Rosenberg’s antiwar sentiments were heighted as somewhat of a “first responder” in the war?
    https://spartacus-educational.com/FWWstretcher.htm

    ReplyDelete

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