One of the most interesting of these patriotic poets was Julian Grenfell, who came to be known as "the happy warrior." His poem "Into Battle" suggests a kind of mystique about war, a natural urge for man to fight that binds him to nature and his fellowman. The soldier is associated in the imagery of the poem with the sun, the heavens, the birds and the trees. As one critic observes, war creates for Grenfell a kind of "curious rapture." It is ironic that "Into Battle" was published in The Times the same day he died in 1915.

Julian Grenfell

Into Battle

The naked earth is warm with spring,
And with green grass and bursting trees
Leans to the sun's gaze glorying,
And quivers in the sunny breeze;
And life is colour and warmth and light,
And a striving evermore for these;
And he is dead who will not fight;
And who dies fighting has increase.

The fighting man shall from the sun
Take warmth, and life from the glowing earth;
Speed with the light-foot winds to run,
And with the trees to newer birth;
And find, when fighting shall be done,
Great rest, and fullness after dearth.

All the bright company of Heaven
Hold him in their high comradeship,
The Dog-Star, and the Sisters Seven,
Orion's Belt and sworded hip.

The woodland trees that stand together,
They stand to him each one a friend;
They gently speak in the windy weather;
They guide to valley and ridge's end.

The kestrel hovering by day,
And the little owls that call by night,
Bid him be swift and keen as they,
As keen of ear, as swift of sight.

The blackbird sings to him, "Brother, brother,
If this be the last song you shall sing,
Sing well, for you may not sing another;
Brother, sing."

In dreary, doubtful, waiting hours,
Before the brazen frenzy starts,
The horses show him nobler powers;
O patient eyes, courageous hearts!

And when the burning moment breaks,
And all things else are out of mind,
And only joy of battle takes
Him by the throat, and makes him blind,

Through joy and blindness he shall know,
Not caring much to know, that still
Nor lead nor steel shall reach him, so
That it be not the Destined Will.

The thundering line of battle stands,
And in the air death moans and sings;
But Day shall clasp him with strong hands,
And Night shall fold him in soft wings.

"Pack Up Your Troubles" was written in 1915 by the English song-writers George Asaf and Felix Powell. It was one of the most popular songs of the First World War. The version you hear here was recorded in 1925 on a 78 rpm record by the Band of the Coldstream Guards.

Pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag,
And smile, smile, smile,
While you've a lucifer to light your fag,
Smile, boys, that's the style--
What's the use of worrying?
It never was worthwhile,
So, pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag,
And smile, smile, smile!
A "lucifer" is a match and a "fag" is a cigarette. The cigarettes were probably "Woodbines," which cost little and were sometimes given free to the men at the front. In Scotland some years ago I met a World War I veteran who still smoked "Woodbines." He gave me one, and I understood then why they could sell them so cheaply! They were unfiltered, made of cheap, rough-cut tobacco and harsh on the throat.