DEAD MAN'S DUMP by Isaac Rosenberg (1890-1918)

Rosenberg was an Anglo-Jewish painter and poet, whose parents came from Lithuania. Poetry and art played an equal part in his life. He was always against the war but said "I never joined the army for patriotic reasons. Nothing can justify war. I suppose we must all fight to get the trouble over.” (wiki). This particular poem came from the direct experience of being assigned to go into No-Man’s land and set up barbed wire entanglements. The wire was loaded on a carriage pulled by mule. No-Man’s land was littered with dead bodies, and the almost-dead, of both sides (German & English) and this poem depicts the experience in one of the most vivid narratives to come out of the First World War.