Saturday, February 17, 2007

Poetry: Monday upcoming

A reminder to bring your Penguin Book of First World War Poetry text to class on Monday .... we'll look at some selected poems through a question relating to an aspect of their literary and extra-literary uniqueness.

As I may have mentioned earlier in the term, this book is one of the rare anthologies which has attained classic literature status independently of the individual poems it collects. It has never been out of print and it sells consistently to a range of book readers: Silkin's editorship here is erudite, sensitive and loving. The latest revision to add writers for social, rather than artistic, reasons made Silkin uneasy (as he mentions himself in the Introduction, but seemingly it has not harmed the book's reputation.

Here is a worthwhile review from our friends at Amazon.com
Sarah"killyrtv9" (NH) - See all my reviewsI have always loved writing poetry, but have often found it hard to read the works of other writers. This book changed me; I have read and re-read the poems collected in this book countless times. It never ceases to move me. The poems offer insight into life, death, love, and the meaning of patriotism. These poems helped me come closer to understanding the experiences of soldiers. Though written many years before I was even born, the themes throughout the book can still be related to today.

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