Poetry of World War I, at least in its lyrical mode,....

“ Poetry of World War I, at least in its lyrical mode, was itself the last flowering of the Age of Innocence that preceded the war, that the horrors of the trenches sparked the final blossoming, as friction gives rise to fire; that the daily nightmare unfolding before the soldiers sharpened their sense of beauty, prophecy, and mission. ”

Philip Zaleski

From : The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien