Product Description

In what is one of the finest autobiographies to come out of the First World War, the distinguished poet Edmund Blunden records his experiences as an infantry subaltern in France and Flanders. Enlisting at the age of twenty in 1916, Blunden took part in the disastrous battles of the Somme, Ypres and Passchendaele, describing the latter as 'murder, not only to the troops, but to their singing faiths and hopes'. In his compassionate yet unsentimental prose, he tells of the endurance, heroism, and despair found among the officers and men of his battalion. The selection of Blunden's poems show how he found hope in the natural landscape; the only thing that survives the terrible betrayal enacted in the Flanders fields.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #71841 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
The poet and critic Edmund Blunden was born in Yalding, Kent in 1896. He studied at Oxford, was professor of English literature at Tokyo from 1924-7 and fellow of Merton College, Oxford from 1931. He joined the staff of 'The Times Literary Supplement' in 1943, and from 1953 lectured at the University of Hong Kong. From1966-8 he was professor of poetry at Oxford.

Customer Reviews

'It is time to hint to a new age what your value was'
While writing a first-hand war diary must be tantamount to aspiring to express the inexpressible, the decade Edmund Blunden's Undertones of War took in the making bought him time to distance himself from the numbing impact of the Great War events demanding to be exorcised.

The book offers an understated account of the events that gripped the minds of Blunden and his beloved 11th Royal Sussex Regt., taking the reader from the build-up to the Battle of the Somme and on to Third Ypres and Passchendaele, campaigns which left the party shattered morally and badly depleted for size. The overall experience at the time was beyond the comprehension of a single human being, the more so as Blunden (barely 20) was too young to deal with, let alone, put into prespective, the depths and cruelty of events as he witnessed them. The combined effect of a cathartic ten years' time and Blunden's mildness and humanity of temperament has only added to the merits of a book which, to this day, has been, and deserves to remain, a long-standing classic.

As perfection is not of this world, Blunden's inclination towards quoting from his literary predecessors might be considered a minor flaw. Likewise, the critical reader might feel mildly irritated at the pastoral tone and evocative detail with which the author intersperses his account. Anyone will, however, agree that in no way has Blunden sought to embellish his experiences, but perceive that, in the face of devastation, he merely set out to find comfort in the permanence of forms and shapes to go by, as well as to pinpoint solidarity and camaraderie as beacons along their dark ways. The latter can be derived from Blunden's dedication of the books to some of his pals, whether dead or alive at the time.

"It is time to hint to a new age what your value, what your love was; your Ypres is gone, and you are gone; we were lucky to see you 'in the pink' against white-ribbed and socket-eyed despair.": how appropriate a description of a near-perfect book, the universality of whose message remains unimpaired. As a tribute to the ordinary soldier in too great a war, Undertones of War is more eloquent than any Menin Gates or Passchendaele Tyne Cot Cemeteries could ever aspire to be.

"You endured that winter (...) in the best way of manliness"
How rightly did UOW deserve, as it did, for its first edition (in 1928) to be sold out in merely one day. To be true, Blunden stands out as one of the youngest and most dedicated soldier poets ever to testify to the shattering Great War experience they lived through. While no reader of Undertones will escape being moved by the sheer poignancy of Blunden's statement, one will likewise be struck by his consistently understated style (convenient to the aspiration implied in the title, to perceive the "undertone") as well as by a distinct inclination towards the pastoral. In so doing, the infantry subaltern must have sought to avoid being gulped down altogether by the turmoil of the battles of the Somme, in the Ypres Salient and at Passchendaele. Apart from a penchant for the continuing beauty of Nature, the comradeship for the brothers-in-arms provides the kind of emotional refuge that young Blunden must have been so badly in need of (as, indeed, any other soldier) , if only to survive the estrangement brought along by war, as well as to cope with the indelible emotional scar it left him with till his dying day. Looking back on his time in Ypres, the author extends his generous sympathy for an unnamed fellow-soldier. "Your Ypres is gone, and you are gone. (...)", Blunden reminisces, "It is time to hint to a new age what your value, what your love was". Nearly eighty years on, how appropriately do these words sum up the profound value of a book, which so rightly deserves its qualification as established classic! From our unholy holy region of Flanders Fields, which Blunden described with such depth of affection, we share his message of hope of better things to come.

Chris Spriet

An understated classic
I have tried numerous times to read Undertones of War, and given up each time as i became frustrated by what i percieved as difficult language and a rambling narrative. But finally, at aged 35 i read my Grandfather's book, and it finally all clicked into place. The humour, the understated horror, his warmth, humanity and love for his fellow soldiers shine through the text. I found i couldnt put it down. I think it is a brilliant account of what must have been a living hell, especially given his age- he was 19 when he went to France, and celebrated his 21st in a trench. Keep on trying if you find UOW difficult, because ultimately it is a magnificent read, as is his poetry. You just cant read it in a hurry. It may not be easy reading like Robert Graves or some of Sasson's poetry but stick with it. Blunden's work is a bit like an onion- lots of layers, that need to be peeled back and absorbed slowly to get the true flavour. Enjoy it- i did in the end!