Product Description

The famous - Kipling, Brooke, Sassoon, Blunden, Owen, Graves -
are all here, as well as others almost entirely forgotten now. Seventy-two
poets are included; twenty-one of them died in action. From the early
exultation to the bitter disillusion, the tragedy of the First World War is
precisely traced in the words of those who lived through it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21982 in Books
• Published on: 1986-01-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 230 pages

Times Education Supplement
'To read through this anthology is ... to live the years
1914-1918, adding to the images of battle which most of us have already,
the actual feelings expressed by the soldier poets who lived, and died,
through trench warfare'

Illustrated London News
'It is all here, the mud and rats of the trenches, the hellish
noise of the bombardment, the insane waste of life, the high heroism and
the bitter cynicism'

The Times
'Mr Gardner, who has chosen, introduced and put notes to this
admirable anthology, shows the First World War poets in all moods'

Customer Reviews

Deeply moving
The poetry of soldiers of the First World War.

Supposedly the War to end ALL Wars, it was a bloody, brutal and harrowing campaign. It wasn't over by Christmas as many had speculated and lasted four long years and it marked the emergence of a new type of warfare.

The poetry in this anthology covers those four years of war, from the eager young men joining up to fight the enemy on foreign soil, to the maimed returning home and, of course, those who never returned at all.

The poems are deeply moving, especially those of the men stuck in the trenches, knee deep in mud with nothing to listen to but the sound of shells exploding outside and nothing to see but their friends injured and killed. Some of the poems were written by men who never returned, for whom their poetry is their legacy.

I defy anyone to look at war the same way after reading these.

The War Poets
Purchased for GCSE English purposes for my daughter but read it myself. Very moving and thought provoking. Really does bring home the horrors of war but, at the same time, makes one wonder at the extent of human endurance.

Classic anthology of WW1 poetry
One of the most comprehensive anthologies of WW1 poetry available, edited and commented on by an expert in the field. This text is currently a set text on the new AQA English Literature A Level specification (Option B - WW1 Literature). A classic.