War Poetry: An Introductory Reader (Critical Readers in Theory & Practice) Book

Poetry and War is an anthology of poetry and prose collected from both the First and Second World War. Simon Featherstone examines the poetry in its intellectual and historical contexts, stressing the continuities and revisions of pre- and inter-war writing and work. The anthology focusses on the importance of war poetry for an understanding of British culture rather than just the British experience of war. The selection of poets and writers--Bertrand Russell, Herbert Read, Robert Graves, Israel Zangwill, David Jones, Virginia Woolf, Edgell Rickword, Arthus Koestler, Stephen Spender, Ivor Gurney, Wilfred Owen, H.D., Alun Lewis--emphasize other issues than front-line experience of battle. The collection also includes hitherto previously excluded and canonically marginalized writers such as the Highland Scot Hamish Henderson and Gaelic poet Sorley Maclean, both who serve up distinctly Scottish versions of the Second World War. A substantial selection of Iovr Guryney's work that revises conventional thinking about war poetry is also included.Read More