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War Poetry

Lyric and Short Poetic Forms

War poetry is poetry on the subject of war. The term is applied especially to poetry of the First World War, but it extends to poetry about any conflict, from Homer's Iliad through the American Civil War, the Crimean War and the Spanish Civil War, and its authors may be combatants describing their own experience or noncombatants observing from a distance.

Facts
Place of Origin
Ionia, Ancient Greece 1
Notable Example
Shahnameh by Ferdowsi 1
Defining Trait
Poetry on the topic of war, written by combatants or noncombatants 1
Sources
1. War poetry - Wikipedia
  • Ancient times section, Iliad sentence
    The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameter which is believed to have been composed by Homer, a blind Greek Bard from Ionia.
  • Early medieval period section
    Ferdowsi's 11th century Shahnameh ("Book of Kings") retells the mythical and to some extent the historical past of the Persian Empire from the creation of the world until the Muslim conquest in the 7th century.
  • Lead section, definition sentence
    War poetry is poetry on the topic of war.
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