Vera Brittain’s war explains a series of effects on countries involved in the war, whether it be emotional or physical. In section five of chapter four, Rupert Brooke’s poem describes the essence of the war. It states,
“Glad from a world grown old and cold and weary,/ Leave the sick hearts that honour could not move,/ And half-men, and their dirty songs and dreary—/ all the little emptiness of love? (Brooke). This portion of a poem is the most significant to me because of the truth behind the words. Everyone listening to the poem has a deep connection with the fear of war. It takes the effects of the war and lays them out in front of the audience. The country was afraid of the affects of war, and the citizens knew of the dangerous stories regarding trench warfare. The “sick hearts that honour could not move” refer to the soldiers dying in the trenches, unable to move. Lastly, the poem connects to the public because of a level of uncertainty. While Rupert Brooke’s poems were brought into the public eye after the poet’s death, the message and hopelesnees of the poem affected those who listened. It acted as a type of foreshadowing that was to come, which is the most unsettling aspect of the poem yet.