Overview of the Collection (AQA A-Level English Literature A): Revision Notes

Overview of the collection

Introduction to Scars Upon My Heart

Scars Upon My Heart: Women's Poetry and Verse of the First World War is an important anthology that brings together the voices of female poets from World War I. Catherine Reilly compiled and edited this collection, which Virago Press published in 1981. The anthology represents a significant piece of feminist recovery work, rescuing voices that had been largely overlooked in male-dominated literary canons such as trench poetry.

The collection draws from extensive research. Reilly's 1978 bibliography identified 532 female poets among a total of 2,225 war poets from the period. From this research, she selected 125 poems written by 79 British and American women who experienced the war firsthand. These women witnessed the conflict from the home front, giving a unique perspective on the impact of war.

The title and its significance

The anthology takes its title from Vera Brittain's poem "To My Brother", which contains the poignant line: "Your battle-wounds are scars upon my heart." This phrase perfectly captures the central theme of the collection – the emotional and psychological wounds that women suffered whilst their loved ones fought at the front. The metaphor equates the invisible emotional pain experienced by women with the visible physical injuries sustained by soldiers.

Range of poets included

The anthology features both well-known and obscure poets, representing different social backgrounds and perspectives:

Established figures include:

• Edith Sitwell
• May Wedderburn Cannan
• Margaret Postgate Cole
• Sara Teasdale
• Katharine Tynan

Lesser-known voices such as:

• Jessie Pope
• Eva Dobell
• Emily Orr

This mix of poets ensures the collection captures diverse experiences and perspectives on the war, from different social classes and geographical locations. By including both celebrated and forgotten voices, Reilly demonstrates that valuable war testimony came from women across all social strata, not just from established literary figures.

Literary and historical significance

The anthology emerged during a period of renewed feminist interest in women's history during the 1970s. This recovery work was partly sparked by Vera Brittain's memoir Testament of Youth and its television adaptation. The collection proved remarkably popular, selling over 40,000 copies by 2005. It remained in print and was later reissued in 1997 alongside Reilly's companion volume about World War II, The Virago Book of Women's War Poetry and Verse.

The collection encompasses various poetic forms and perspectives, including elegies, propaganda verse, and pacifist poetry. This diversity reflects the complex and often contradictory ways women responded to and wrote about the war.

Key poems in the collection

"To My Brother" by Vera Brittain

This intimate elegy mourns a wounded sibling and provides the anthology with its visceral title. Brittain's poem explores the deep grief felt by those at home, demonstrating how emotional suffering could be as devastating as physical injury. The poem's personal nature gives insight into the intimate grief experienced by families torn apart by war.

The poem establishes the collection's central argument: that women's home-front experiences constitute authentic war testimony deserving of equal recognition alongside combat narratives.

"A Recruit From The Slums" by Emily Orr

Orr's poem highlights the sacrifice made by the working classes during the war. It focuses on urban poverty and patriotism, showing how those from disadvantaged backgrounds answered their country's call despite receiving little from society. The poem raises important questions about class and duty during wartime.

"What Reward?" by Winifred M. Letts

This powerful poem questions the justice of a society that glorifies the physically dead whilst neglecting those who survived with shell shock and mental trauma. Letts challenges readers to consider what recognition should be given to soldiers whose minds were broken by war, even if their bodies remained intact. The poem addresses the invisible wounds of psychological trauma.

The poem's central question—what reward for those who gave their "precious wits"—remains painfully relevant to discussions of mental health and veteran care today.

Works by Jessie Pope

Pope's poetry presents an interesting contrast within the collection. Her early jingoistic recruitment calls, which encouraged men to enlist, stand in stark opposition to her later remorseful works. This evolution in perspective reflects how many people's attitudes towards the war changed as its true cost became apparent.

Poems by Eva Dobell

Dobell's verses offer a female perspective on the horrific realities of the frontline. Working as a nurse, she witnessed the physical and mental devastation wrought by war firsthand. Her poems provide important testimony about the medical experience of the war and the trauma faced by those caring for the wounded.

Dobell's work is crucial because it documents women's direct exposure to combat's consequences, challenging the notion that women's war experience was limited to passive waiting at home.

Major themes in the collection

Grief, loss, and emotional scars

The poems throughout the collection express deep sorrow for absent sons, brothers, and lovers. The metaphor of "battle-wounds are scars upon my heart" runs through many works, capturing the experience of home-front bereavement. Women's grief is portrayed as a genuine war wound—invisible but deeply painful.

The poems reveal how women carried the burden of waiting and widowhood. Unlike soldiers who faced death on the battlefield, women endured a different kind of suffering—the prolonged anguish of uncertainty and loss. Brittain's work particularly mourns those lost before death, acknowledging the anticipatory grief many experienced. This domestic anguish represents an authentic war experience that had often been overlooked in traditional war literature.

Patriotism to disillusionment and guilt

Many poems trace an emotional journey from early patriotic fervour to later remorse and protest. Pope's enlistment urgings, which encouraged young men to join up, eventually gave way to more critical reflections on the war's cost. Similarly, Cole's pacifist verse and Tynan's elegies question whether the sacrifice was justified.

This evolution reflects how suffrage-era women's consciousness developed throughout the war period. Initial enthusiasm for supporting the war effort gradually transformed into deeper questioning about the value of such immense loss. The poems reveal a growing awareness of complicity—particularly among those who had encouraged enlistment—and a shift from fervent support to profound protest.

Women's roles and contradictions

The verses depict various roles women occupied during wartime: nurses, munitionettes (factory workers), VADs (Voluntary Aid Detachment members), and ambulance drivers. These poems challenge the passive image of women during wartime by showing them as active participants in the war effort.

However, the poetry also reveals a complex truth: whilst women were physically active in supporting the war, they simultaneously endured passive mental suffering. The poems expose "anxiety and bereavement" as genuine forms of war experience. This grief becomes positioned as authentic combat experience, rivalling the suffering depicted in trench poetry. The collection thus challenges traditional canons that privileged combat experience over home-front experience.

Class and sacrifice

Emily Orr's "A Recruit From The Slums" gives voice to working-class loyalty despite societal neglect. The poem's refrain—"She gave us little, she taught us less"—powerfully contrasts elite mourning with proletarian duty. This juxtaposition highlights the uneven burdens placed on different social classes during the war.

The poem underscores how the poor bore disproportionate costs whilst receiving minimal recognition or support. It raises uncomfortable questions about who benefited from patriotic rhetoric and who paid the ultimate price. This class-conscious perspective adds important social critique to the collection.

Mental trauma and survival shame

Winifred M. Letts probes the impact of shell shock on soldiers, describing victims as "brain bemused." Her question—"what reward for him?"—extends sympathy beyond those with visible physical injuries to include psychological casualties. The poem voices societal guilt over prioritising physical glory whilst abandoning those who survived with mental wounds.

This theme addresses the "flotsam of battle"—those broken by war but still living. It challenges readers to confront the uncomfortable reality that survival could bring its own form of suffering, and questions why society found it easier to honour the dead than to care for the psychologically wounded living.

Important quotations

"Your battle-wounds are scars upon my heart"

From Vera Brittain's "To My Brother", this line symbolises the collection's central metaphor. It equates women's emotional pain with soldiers' physical injuries, asserting that psychological suffering is as valid and devastating as bodily harm.

This quotation is essential for exam responses because it encapsulates the anthology's core argument about the legitimacy of home-front suffering.

"Child of a city slum, / That you should answer her ringing call"

From Emily Orr's "A Recruit From The Slums", this quotation captures the irony of patriotism amongst the poor. It blends pride with critique, highlighting how those society had neglected were still expected to sacrifice everything for their country.

The pronoun "her" refers to Britain, emphasizing the gendered nature of patriotic duty and the complex relationship between nation and citizen.

"But he who gave his precious wits, / Say, what reward for him?"

From Winifred M. Letts' "What Reward?", these lines indict societal neglect of psychological casualties. The poem prioritises mental wellbeing over physical glory, challenging prevailing attitudes that honoured death whilst ignoring mental suffering.

The phrase "precious wits" elevates mental capacity as something as valuable as physical life—a perspective that challenged contemporary attitudes toward shell shock victims.

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