Rupert Brooke, Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon are the poets who, at least in England, are most frequently associated with the First World War. Excerpts from a handful of their poems have become iconic, often due to their patriotism, such as Brookes’ famous lines, “That there’s some corner of a foreign field/That is forever England […]”. Writing this review as the UK’s centennial commemorations of the beginning of the First World War reach an end, I cannot but be aware of how this particular body of poetry is used to various cultural ends, shaping, remaking and augmenting cultural understandings of war and warfare. Through challenging the narrow perception of First World War poetry as, basically, lyric poetry written in the trenches, this Companion presents a reconfiguration of thinking about this poetry and also the consequences of the actualities of war.
The book opens with substantial front matter including a list of Figures, Notes on Contributors, a Preface, Acknowledgements, a Chronology of Events and Publications and a Chronology of Poets. Over 14 pages, the Chronology of Events and Publications is a timeline, detailing major historical and political events alongside cultural and literary landmark events between 1890 and 2012. As one would expect, particular focus is given to the years of the First World War. The Chronology of Poets reveals a large number of well-known names, such as Robert Frost, D.H. Lawrence and W.B. Yeats, who are not commonly associated with the First World War, yet were writing during this time. Seeing their names in this context is indicative of the widened frame of reference which this Companion encourages.
In his Preface Das positions this Companion in relation to The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of the First World War (Sherry, 2005) (RR 2005/359), distinguishing the present Companion through its focus on poetry. He sets out the scope of this volume, placing its focus on poetry written in English, “whether in Britain, the former parts of the empire or the United States” (p. xxi) and detailing its breadth which reflects a reconceptualization of First World War poetry.
The book comprises 18 chapters of which 16 are numbered as such. With the exception of the final piece, each chapter is written by an academic with expertise in the area of which they write. These are presented under the headings of four Parts. Part I, Historical and Critical Contexts includes an Introduction, Reframing First World War Poetry which, running to over 31 pages, constitutes a chapter in itself, although it is not numbered as such. Here Das investigates the term First World War Poetry and how this relates to scholarship which has expanded the range of poetry approached through this lens. The first chapter, First World War Poetry: A Cultural Landscape examines the poetry in cultural and political contexts, followed by Peter Howarth’s chapter Poetic Form and the First World War on aesthetics. Part II explores and provides close readings of Soldier-Poets. Seven chapters cover Early Poets of the First World War, Later Poets of the First World War, Siegfried Sassoon, Isaac Rosenberg, Wilfred Owen, Edward Thomas and Ivor Gurney together in one chapter, and David Jones. Part III extends into perhaps less familiar terrain. Under the heading Archipelagic, Colonial and Civilian War Poetry five chapters explore these topics, with one chapter dedicated to each plus a chapter on Women’s Poetry of the First World War, and a chapter on War, Empire and Modernist Poetry. The fourth and final Part, Afterlives of First World War Poetry, includes a chapter on Poetic Legacies of the First World War and another focussing on the context of Cultural Memory. The final chapter takes the form of A Conversation, an edited transcript of a dialogue between the poets Michael Longley, Andrew Motion and Jon Stallworthy, which offers an alternative take, or three, on this poetry and an interesting insight into the thoughts of these poets as readers.
The Companion ends with a detailed Guide to Further Reading, followed by a good Index. Each title I have reviewed in the Cambridge Companions series offers a well-written and up-to-date analysis of its focus and once again this Companion meets the high standard of writing and intellectual engagement I expect. This title is recommended for any university library supporting degree programmes in English literature or American literature and public libraries seeking to ensure their poetry collections reflect current thinking in the field.
