If war is the answer, what the hell is the question?

Abstract

This paper seeks to investigate the futility of war, with specific reference to the First World War, whose centenary is being celebrated this decade. Reference is made to a wide range of poets, with suitable examples brought to bear on the argument. More relevantly, the paper engaged in a discussion of Georgianism and the ideal of the Georgic, which seeks to emulate Virgil’s utopian vision in both his Georgics and the Eclogues. This is a utopia that was shattered beyond recognition in the trenches, an experience whose irony is not lost on the reader when one considers the cry of Liberalism embedded in Georgianism juxtaposed alongside the confining space of the trench.