SOURCE: "Fear Motifs in the Literature Between Wars," in South Atlantic Quarterly, Vol. 46, April, 1947, pp. 225-38.

In the following essay, Walcutt describes interwar literature as characterized by guilt following World War I, fear during the 1930s, and confrontation during the early years of World War II.

"If we had only heeded our writers! The poets saw the second war coming and realized its horror, early in the thirties. …" A hundred versions of these sentiments have been uttered in recent years. It is a commonplace of criticism to say that the poet is more aware of historical trends than the historian, of social currents than the sociologist, of spiritual values than the theologian. E. B. White has declared that he envies the poets their wisdom. This superior insight of the poets undoubtedly is a fact. It is also a universal truth of history that mankind has not heeded its...