Out of Battle : The Poetry of the Great War

The poetry of the Great War is among the most powerful ever written in the English language. Unique for its immediacy and searing honesty, it has made a fundamental contribution to our understanding of and response to war and the suffering it creates. Widely acclaimed as an indispensable guide to the Great War poets and their work, Out of Battle explores in depth the variety of responses from Rupert Brook, Ford Madox Ford, Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Issac Rosenberg and Edward Thomas to the events they witnessed. Other poets discussed are Hardy, Kipling, Charles Sorely, Ivor Gurney, Herbert Read, Richard Aldington and David Jones. For the second edition of Out of Battle , a substantial new preface has been added together with an appendix on the unresolved problems concerning the Owen manuscripts. An updated bibliography provides useful guidance for further reading.

The poetry from the Great War is among the most powerful ever written in the English language. Unique for its immediacy and searing honesty, it has made a fundamental contribution to our understanding of and response to war and the suffering it creates. Widely acclaimed as an indispensable guide to the war poets and their work, Out of Battle explores in depth the variety of responses from Rupert Brook, Ford Madox Ford, Seigfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Isaac Rosenberg and Edward Thomas to the events they witnessed. Other poets discussed are Hardy, Kipling, Charles Sorely, Ivor Gurney, Herbert Read, Richard Aldington and David Jones. For this second edition of Out of Battle, a substantial new preface has been added, together with an appendix on the unresolved problems concerning the Owen manuscripts. An updated bibliography provides useful guidance for further reading.

Front Matter....Pages i-xx Introduction....Pages 1-31 Thomas Hardy....Pages 32-55 Rudyard Kipling and Rupert Brooke....Pages 56-69 Charles Sorley and Others....Pages 70-84 Edward Thomas....Pages 85-101 Edmund Blunden and Ivor Gurney....Pages 102-129 Siegfried Sassoon....Pages 130-167 Herbert Read, Richard Aldington, and Ford Madox Ford....Pages 168-196 Wilfred Owen....Pages 197-248 Isaac Rosenberg....Pages 249-314 David Jones....Pages 315-340 Conclusion....Pages 341-349 Back Matter....Pages 351-374 The poet Jon Silkin explores in depth the crucial poems of the important poets of the Great War writing in English.