Service’s Calvinist atheist beliefs discouraged him from enlisting but the desire to chase another facet of humanity took over. Despite the military deeming him not in physical condition to serve, Service worked with the American Ambulance Unit. This perfect fit allowed Service to help his fellow citizens, did not interfere with his beliefs, and gave him access to his favourite vantage point. Service corresponded with the Toronto Star from the Dunkirk trenches and nearly faced execution on grounds of being a spy. Service agreed to cease writing about his experiences, a promise he obviously disregarded. Even after the war Service’s war poetry faced censorship because of its unpatriotic and pessimistic nature.
Pessimism and questioning of the…show more content… The uncertainty of the narrator or Missis Moriarty have the better situation also lends itself to Modernism. Both Missis Moriarty and the narrator’s sons enlisted. Missis Moriarty’s son died but the narrator’s son Dinnis came home maimed and plagued by undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder. Dinnis drinks away his pay and she spends her nights sitting by his bed watching him suffer from night terrors. The poem never says that the narrator’s son lost his leg but describes, “I’m hearin’ his stumblin’ foot on the stair along half past three”. The “stumblin’ foot” would be an artificial limb. Implying and not explicitly saying that Dinnis lost his leg verges this poem on Modernism. The simplistic language like “Her timper’s so swate that you nivver would tell she’d be losin’ her only child,” not only makes the poem more accessible to all readers but also gives the impression of a southern accent. Preforming the poem would give the fullest appreciation for the detail added by this aspect of form. Adding such a detail contrasts Modernism as Modernism thrives on leaving plenty of room for interpretation. The ideal that Dinnis would bring the same joy to his mother before and after the war is a metaphor for life after the war. Neither the narrator nor Dinnis live the same as they did before Dinnis enlisted and that applies to all families. The economy, the haunting images, dysfunctional bodies, and totaled countryside in Europe could not simply return to normal. The effects of World War I had permanent and crippling affects that lead to later crises including The Great Depression and the Second World
