God in Australian Great War Poetry
God in Australian Great War Poetry

Summary/Abstract: Throughout the ages poets have spoken about God and to God in all manner of ways. They cried out for help and sung out in praise, and the tones of their verse have been anything from base familiarity to exultant praise. But all poets have recognised God as a standard for mankind’s sense of morality and ethics, as well as the locus of the true self. However, poets who found themselves living in times of war often spoke of God in a more earnest and even urgent way. They saw God as a means of protection and succour. As someone to be with in good times and to turn to in the worst moments. This is of course most normal, however, theAustralian Great War poets, who also saw God in these ways, saw God in their fellow man and the world around them. They saw the destruction caused by war as a desecration of God and a sacrilege against Him. Australian poets, men and women, servicemen, nurses and civilians, saw God as the first and last refuge of sane men. Not in any pantheistic way, God was seen in the soldier’s fellow man and the landscape of Australia. In the case of man, who was made in God’s image, Australian poets saw God’s image in the reflection of innocence and good deeds, while in the case of the Australian landscape, poets saw God’s hand of creation. For the Australian Great War poet, God was the binding factor of human existence.

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