War poetry was common in many of the ancient societies of Europe, but no writer is more well-known or revered than Homer, a Greek poet who is believed to have lived during the eighth century B.C. Homer's epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey, have helped to form a basis for all of Western poetry and, many argue, Western literature in general. The Iliad, in particular, which details events of the Trojan War, is a good example of the type of heroic war poetry that antiwar poems like "The Arsenal at Springfield" rebelled against.

Longfellow's Evangeline, originally published in 1847, is one of his best-known works. Like "The Arsenal at Springfield," the narrative poem details the effects of war, in this case on two lovers who are separated by the politics of the French and Indian War.

While military technology...