This slim Dover edition contains several poems from 16 different poets. The poems range from pro war and anti war to family of those at war. This is an interesting view on the first world war, seen through the eyes of artists.
I remember that just before I picked this up I had a conversation with someone (probably my husband) about a poem (no clue who it was by) written about a war (I can’t remember which). It was an interesting conversation. And I was thinking about it when I saw World War One British Poets in a little free library. I thought, well, that is interesting! What DO poets think about during war time? This collection, I think, tries to show several perspectives. There are those who are pro war, those who are anti war, those who were in the thick of it, and those who were on the periphery. Some of the poets are famous, some not. Some are known only for 1 or 2 war poems, some are known for all their other work. Reading this was definitely interesting and I’m glad I read it. I read this for the 1900 - 1950 Readathon and it fit in perfectly. You can watch that video here. Although, I was glad to have read this, it was quite hard to get through. It is violent, dated, and obviously, all about war which is a hard subject. I’m also not really a poetry person. I find it hard to read and usually not engaging. I really struggled to get through this book. I love that Dover has such a huge range of books that are accessible to many readers. I would recommend this book to those who are interested in seeing the first world war through poetry, those interested in this history, people who love poetry, or fans of some of the more famous authors represented here.
Do you read poetry? Do you enjoy it?
