Cover of The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry

The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry

by Various · 1979

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Unrivaled in its range and intensity, the poetry of World War I continues to have a powerful effect on readers. This newly edited anthology reflects the diverse experiences of those who lived through the war, bringing together the words of poets, soldiers, and civilians affected by the conflict. Here are famous verses by Rupert Brooke, Siegfried Sassoon, and Wilfred Owen; poetry by women writing from the home front; and the anonymous lyrics of soldiers' songs. Arranged thematically, the selections take the reader through the war's stages, from conscription to its aftermath, and offer a blend of voices that is both unique and profoundly moving.

Genre
war and militarywar and militaryMore like thisLess of thishistorical fictionhistorical fictionMore like thisLess of thisWorld War IWorld War IMore like thisLess of this
Setting
20th century20th centuryMore like thisLess of thisWorld War IWorld War IMore like thisLess of this
Subject
historyhistoryMore like thisLess of this
Audience
adult
Length
medium · 320 pages
Form
poetrypoetryMore like thisLess of this

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Liked The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. The Collected Poems of Wilfred Owen Wilfred Owen · 1918 Shares poetry, wwi, war
  2. World War One British Poets: Brooke, Owen, Sassoon, Rosenberg and Others · 1997 Shares poetry, wwi, war
  3. Up the Line to Death · 1964 Shares poetry, war, wwi
  4. Poetry of the First World War: An Anthology · 2013 Shares poetry, war, wwi
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“People who read The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry tend to reach for these next.”

  1. The War Poems Siegfried Sassoon · 1919
  2. The Oxford Book of War Poetry · 1984
  3. Undertones of War Edmund Blunden · 1928
  4. In Parenthesis David Jones · 1937

“If you want more of the same (war and military), start with these.”

  1. Scars Upon My Heart: Women's Poetry And Verse Of The First World War Catherine Reilly · 1981
  2. Poems of the Great War 1914-1918 Richard Aldington, Edmund Blunden, Charlotte Mew, Alice Meynell, Wilfred Owen, Margaret Cole, Herbert Read, Edgell Rickword, Isaac Rosenberg, Siegried Sassoon, Charles Hamilton Sorley, Edward Thomas, Rupert Brooke, May Wedderburn Cannan, F.S. Flint, Ford Madox Ford, Robert Graves, Ivor Gurney, Thomas Hardy, John McCrae, Frederic Manning · 1998
  3. Collected Poems, 1908-1956 Siegfried Sassoon · 1961
  4. Free onlineFree 1914, and Other Poems Rupert Brooke · 1915

“If it was the poetry that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Free onlineFree Counter-Attack and Other Poems Siegfried Sassoon · 1918
  2. This Is My Beloved Walter Benton · 1949
  3. Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting Kevin Powers · 2014
  4. The Nation's Favourite Poems: Book 1 · 1996

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. The Oxford Illustrated Book of American Children's Poems · 1999
  2. Russian Poets · 2009
  3. Poets of World War I Rupert Smith · 2014
  4. Dismantling glory Lorrie Goldensohn · 2003

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