« Et nul ne peut savoir ce que sera demain » : la poésie de 14/18 publiée dans la presse des prisonniers français en Allemagne

Abstract

The poems written by prisoners, both military and civilian, interned during the First World War, have practically been forgotten. It is this literary production, more precisely the poetry published in the French prisoners’ press, produced and distributed in the camps, that we propose to discover here. Reflecting the experience of captivity (life as a prisoner, pains of exile, dreams of return, hope), these poems bear witness to a form of resilience that is as much about the ability to re-appropriate classical forms as it is about the will to forge a community united by reading and cultural allusions. They perform a multiplicity of functions: distracting from a difficult daily life, overcoming individual and collective traumas, discreetly reaffirming patriotic convictions, creating a collective discursive space. This article examines selected poems in detail, with particular emphasis on the importance of the medium, the prisoners’ press, in the analysis of this poetry of internment, highlighting the crucial role of context in the literary practices of the prisoners.