Abstract
This study argues that war poetry, when critically read in military education, enables cadets to engage with the ethical, psychological, and human dimensions of war. Rather than serving as propaganda or glorification of battle, war poetry voices the unspoken suffering of soldiers and civilians and preserves the memory of trauma. Drawing on Nil Santiáñez’s recent work on the symbiosis between war and language, this article situates war writing as a space where questions of knowledge, ethics, and survival are inevitably confronted. In particular, the works of Serhiy Zhadan and Cho Ji-hoon demonstrate how poetry transforms urban conflict into a record of resilience and cultural witness. In this classroom, such texts invite cadets to ask fundamental questions—“What is war? Why do we fight?”—that go beyond tactics and strategy. War poetry therefore provides an indispensable resource for cultivating critical thought, empathy, and emotional resilience in future military leaders.
Recommended Citation
Seo, Dong-ha
(2025)
"What is the Point of Reading War Literature in the Military Academy: Reflection of Contemporary Warfare through the Siege Motif in Serhiy Zhadan’s How Fire Descends: New and Selected Poems,"
Journal of Peace, Conflict, and Security Studies: Vol. 1:
Iss.
1, Article 6.
Available at:
https://repository.rit.edu/jpcss/vol1/iss1/6
Included in
Higher Education Commons, Literature in English, Anglophone outside British Isles and North America Commons, Peace and Conflict Studies Commons