World War II Poets

Between 1939 and 1946, over 100 million people from over 30 countries were directly involved in the Second World War, and an estimated 70 million people died: over 4 times as many as in World War I. The war was waged in Europe and the Atlantic, in the Pacific and South-East Asia and China, as well as in Northern Africa and the Mediterranean and the Middle East. To accompany our sampler of the Poetry of World War II, we have organized a selection of poets who served as soldiers, medical staff, journalists, or volunteers. We have also added civilian poets who died in the war.

Our selection—sorted by country, then alphabetically—is not comprehensive, but it serves as a starting point for readers interested in exploring the Second World War from many perspectives. We'll be adding more poets to this list periodically. If you have suggestions on poets to add, please contact us.