LT137-4-SP-CO:
The First World War in Literature
2025/26
Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies
Colchester Campus
Spring
Undergraduate: Level 4
Current
Monday 12 January 2026
Friday 20 March 2026
15
21 August 2024
Requisites for this module
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Some of the most emotional and powerful literature of the 20th century was written by combatants and non-combatants during the First World War. Looking at writings in English and translation, as well as subsequent literary representations of the conflict, we will examine the unseen side of conflict.
In this module you will investigate the lost voices of war, the writings of women and civilians as well as soldiers; you will explore the formation of poetic canons of the First World War; and you will critically analyse images of homecoming, shellshock and memories of war in drama, poetry and narrative.
This module includes material on such topics as war, trauma, and bereavement.
The aims of this module are:
- To explore literary engagements with the First World War in different genres
- To analyse ways in which literary texts mediate traumatic events
- To examine the process of memory and memorialization
By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:
- Read and analysed one collection of poetry, and studied at least four other texts relating to the First World War.
- Produced a critique of an anthology of poetry demonstrating an understanding of canon formation.
- Developed arguments concerning the literary representations of the diverse experiences of war.
- Developed research skills by means of independent study and bibliographical searches.
- Developed IT skills by means of the virtual learning environment, Moodle and developed writing skills.
Please see Talis for a detailed reading list for this module.
This module will be delivered via:
- A weekly 1-hour lecture and 1-hour seminar.
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Omissi, D.E. (1999) Indian voices of the Great War: soldiers’ letters, 1914-18. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Mamillan Press.
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Essex Record office blog about Kate Luard’s letters and diaries (no date). Available at:
http://www.essexrecordofficeblog.co.uk/tag/kate-luard/.
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Nursing at the Front: Edie Appleton’s War Diary | Gateways to the First World War (no date). Available at:
https://www.gatewaysfww.org.uk/projects/edies-war.
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BBC - History - World Wars: India and the Western Front (no date). Available at:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/india_wwone_01.shtml.
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Kimber, G., Sousa Correa, D. da and Martin, W.T. (eds) (2014) Katherine Mansfield and World War One. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
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Das, S. (2018)
India, Empire, and First World War Culture. Cambridge University Press. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139963244.
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Welcome | First World War Poetry Digital Archive (no date). Available at:
https://oxford.omeka.net/s/ww1lit/page/home.
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Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson | Poetry Foundation (no date). Available at:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/alice-moore-dunbar-nelson.
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Jessie Pope’s War Poems | The British Library (2022). Available at:
https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/jessie-popes-war-poems.
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James Campbell (1999) ‘Combat Gnosticism: The Ideology of First World War Poetry Criticism’,
New Literary History, 30, pp. 203–215. Available at:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20057530.
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David Olusoga (2015)
The world’s war?: forgotten soldiers of empire. Head of Zeus. Available at:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1643315.
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A Diary Without Dates (1918). John W. Luce and Company, Boston. Available at:
https://archive.org/details/bagnold_enid_diary_without_dates.
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Bagnold, E. (1978)
A diary without dates. Facsilmile ed.; with a new introduction by Monica Dickens. London: Virago. Available at:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31124.
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Chilton, C., Littlewood, J., and Theatre Workshop (London, England) (2000)
Oh what a lovely war. London: Methuen. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.5040/9781472584670.00000004?locatt=label:secondary_dramaOnline.
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Tylee, C.M., Turner, E. and Cardinal, A. (1999b)
War plays by women: an international anthology. London: Routledge. Available at:
https://search-ebscohost-com.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=650949.
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West, R. (1918)
The return of the soldier. London: Nisbet. Available at:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37189.
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Great War Theatre (no date). Available at:
https://www.greatwartheatre.org.uk/.
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Kate Atkinson (2022) Shrines of Gaiety. Transworld Publishers Limited.
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Lee, V. (1920)
Satan, the waster, a philosophic war trilogy with notes & introduction. [London]?: John Lane; New York, John Lane company. Available at:
https://www.europeana.eu/en/item/9200143/BibliographicResource_2000069298798.
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ENVISIONING DISEASE, GENDER, AND WAR: WOMEN’S NARRATIVES OF THE 1918 INFLUENZA PANDEMIC/FRONT LINES OF MODERNISM: REMAPPING THE GREAT WAR IN BRITISH FICTION (no date) ‘ENVISIONING DISEASE, GENDER, AND WAR: WOMEN’S NARRATIVES OF THE 1918 INFLUENZA PANDEMIC/FRONT LINES OF MODERNISM: REMAPPING THE GREAT WAR IN BRITISH FICTION’, (84). Available at:
https://www.proquest.com/docview/1491962834?parentSessionId=grDpEmJJjf294wwcEjCTvUScVPEPGbPlrPYMj%2FYh%2FoI%3D&pq-origsite=primo&accountid=10766.
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Modernist Journals Project (no date). Available at:
https://modjourn.org/about/.
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Links to resources on The Gatesway to the First World War project website (no date). Available at:
https://www.gatewaysfww.org.uk/useful-links.
The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's
reading list.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Formative: writing exercise |
|
0% |
| Coursework |
Essay 1 (1,000 words) |
|
25% |
| Coursework |
Essay 2 (2,000 words) |
|
55% |
| Coursework |
Reflective Log (submit to FASer) |
|
15% |
| Practical |
Participation |
|
5% |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Prof Katharine Cockin, email: k.m.cockin@essex.ac.uk.
Professor Katharine Cockin
LiFTS General Office - email liftstt@essex.ac.uk
Telephone 01206 872626
Yes
Yes
Yes
No external examiner information available for this module.
Available via Moodle
Of 20 hours, 20 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s).
* Please note: due to differing publication schedules, items marked with an asterisk (*) base their information upon the previous academic year.
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