Erwin Clarkson Garrett

Erwin Clarkson Garrett was an American poet whose work is closely tied to the experience of World War I. In the preface to Trench Ballads and Other Verses (1919), he says the poems in that book were based on actual facts and incidents drawn largely from his own experiences and observations while serving as a private in Company G, 16th Infantry, First Division, in France.

That first-hand perspective gives his writing its direct, lived-in quality. Garrett explained that many of the poems were written in France, sometimes on scraps of paper in the trenches, and that he tried to avoid invention and stay close to the truth of army life, especially the life of ordinary infantry soldiers.

He also wrote Army Ballads and Other Verses, showing a continuing interest in military poetry and the voices of enlisted men. Today he is remembered mainly for verse that captures both the hardship and the humanity of wartime service.