“Break of Day in the Trenches“ by Isaac Rosenberg (read by Tom O’Bedlam)

This poem is frequently set as coursework for students. You could mention that he greatly admired William Blake and, like Blake, he was both a painter and a poet. Also that he saw a significance in nature reflected in the hearts of men, the rat being is as symbolic as Blake’s tiger and his lamb. Without knowing this, it would be hard to guess that this poem was about the outbreak of war: