The views and feelings evident in the literature of and about World War One show an initial enthusiasm for war and optimism for what it could achieve. As conflict progressed, this developed to a strong anti-war sentiment by exposing the horrors faced by those who fought. This debunked the romantic myths provided by earlier literature in favour of the war. To a modern-day audience, the majority of literature that has remained within the public consciousness can be seen to be resolutely anti-war. A piece of literature from the start of the war that is optimistic would be Brookes sonnet The Soldier. The first octave emphasises the patriotic brilliance and glory of there being some corner of a foreign field/That is for ever England. This is an example of imagery of heaven and the afterlife in the idea that foreign land where a soldier died is an extension of English territory. This would have been received well in the Christian-based society of the time. Patriotic allusions like this provide a glorified sentiment to the war and are evident throughout the poem, like the personification of England itself. The speaker describes himself as the dust whom England bore and refer to themselves as a body of England's, breathing English air. This personification suggests a maternal figure through its analogy of bearing children, showing soldiers patriotic pride merging into familial love. It can also be interpreted as a God-like figure as it alludes to qualities of omnipotence as England bore, shaped, made aware as well as benevolence through her flowers to love, her ways to roam, another allusion that would have been well-received in the Christian-based society of the time. The poem was published in the magazine New Numbers in January 1915 and with its patriotism and pre-war idealism, which reflected the public mood, the poem can be seen as propaganda. The idea of self-sacrifice is emphasised in the poems consistent use of the pronoun I. The speaker is therefore concerned with his own relationship to the nation and the collective. This contrasts with Sassoon's poetry which has a much more individual approach, apart from Absolution which argues a lack of nationalism, through his themes are similar to Brooks. In personal letters, Brooke as a war correspondent contradictively saw his own self-sacrifice as a chance to seek for a correspondent ship and to go, for some paper. War poets of the time, such as Sorley, criticised his selfishness as he was far too obsessed with his own sacrifice and had only taken the sentimental value of war. This poem nonetheless reflected the public mood of pre-war idealism, giving it popularity through its sentimental themes of patriotism and nobility. Another piece of literature from the start of the war that showed optimism for the war would be the poem Absolution. Sassoon wrote this poem in 1915, the year he went to war, which suggests ignorance to the inevitable horrors of conflict. This poem is significantly different to his later resolutely anti-war works in its romantic elements which could have been inspired by his excitement for going to war. It consists of three stanzas composed of four lines with alternating rhyming couplets, a very common form of poetry. The poem includes strong romantic imagery such as beauty shines, golden wind and heritage of heart. This imagery glorifies war in a paradisiacal manner. The speaker believes that the side he is fighting for, his brothers and comrades, are the heroes whereas the opposing side are the foes that must be defeated. The positive connotations of war are shown in the poems presentation of a hero fighting evil in a glorified manner. This provides a typical upper-class 19th century perception of a fighting man or a war hero figure, a stereotype still held in the outbreak of the war. This division can be linked to the novel Regeneration in which there is the division between the protagonist, Rivers, and a suggested antagonist, madness, in which Rivers helps soldiers identify and heal. The ending line of the poem What need we more, my comrades and my brothers? provides a romantic address towards the people at home with the inclusive vocatives comrades and brothers. The vocatives characterise the people at home like soldiers which suggest they are as vital in conflict as the soldiers. Anoth