Trench Poets

Edgell Rickword - Spartacus Education

Edgell Rickword was a British soldier who was born in 1898. When the war broke out, Rickword was only 16 years old, therefore he could not enlist in the army until 1916. However, Rickword was not sent to the Front Line until 1918, and his first week and there was not much violence. A few months later, Rickword was again put in the Front Line and was put in charge along with his partner, James Rowe. According to John Simkin, "On March 19th, Rickword and James Rowe, were put in charge of a working party and during their duties, a shell exploded nearby. Rowe was killed and Rickword suffered a wound to the shoulder and was able to rejoin his regiment on March 24th" (spartacus-education.com). Only a few months after being sent to the Front Line, Rickword was forced to face one of the worst experiences of his life. It can be seen that Rickword's poem, "Trench Poets", is about such experience. Rickword starts the poem by saying, "I knew a man, he was my chum, but he grew blacker every day" (Rickword, 1). It seems like the poem is introducing a partner that Rickword once had. The poem as a whole brings light to the rotting of a soldiers brain because of the war. There is a line in the poem that says, "The worms had got his brain at last" (Rickword, 17), which can symbolize that the soldier is beginning to lose his mind from the war. The poem as a whole brings light to the fact that soldiers were forced to leave men behind if they were dying and even losing their mind.