Within and Without

      New Historicism is a wonderful perspective that threads itself together with a certain time and the art it produces. While it involves a fair amount of research and understanding when approaching literature, I think there's something to be said for acknowledging history and its products on an equal level. However the art presents itself (as protest, poetry, commentary, praise, pondering, etc.), it will always be in some way touched by the time it was created in: the writer cannot completely revoke their culture or experience, or even the events of past history that brought them to where they were when they created their work.
      New Critics might be affronted by New Historicism's complete focus on both the text and its influences, but in many ways they seek the same desire to understand the purpose of what the writing is saying and how it says it. Sassoon and Owen's poems were enhanced when we were given the historical context of shell shock and how people viewed and treated it, but we were also able to gain a soldier's perspective on these views as we analyzed the poems at the same time, with the same context, as the articles and documents. In this way, the value of New Historicism is undeniable.

Films like The Fighting 69th showcase and discuss the harsh effects of WW1, including 'unmanly' cowardice.

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