The following classic and contemporary poems about war, wartime, and veterans are appropriate for young people. Read related lesson plans.
“La Chapelle. 92nd Division. Ted.” by Rita Dove
This lonely beautiful word …
“Spoken from the Hedgerows” by Jorie Graham
To bring back a time and place …
“Roman Poem Number Thirteen” by June Jordan
Only our hearts will argue hard …
“Facing It” by Yusef Komunyakaa
My black face fades …
“Convalescence” by Amy Lowell
From out the dragging vastness of the sea …
“Oceanside, CA” by Marie-Elizabeth Mali
Balancing on crutches in the shallows …
“In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae
In Flanders fields the poppies blow …
“The War in Colors” by Dunya Mikhail
The digital map on the wall …
“The Continental Army” by Marilyn Nelson
As I lifted the kettle from the hob …
“Before I Was a Gazan” by Naomi Shihab Nye
I was a boy …
“Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks …
“Soldiers Washing (1927)” by Ricardo Pau-Llosa
Even washing is a task, in war and daily …
“Dreamers” by Siegfried Sassoon
Soldiers are citizens of death’s gray land …
“There Will Come Soft Rains” by Sara Teasdale
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground …
“The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Half a league, half a league …