Poetry of the First World War

This highly acclaimed new anthology brings new names into focus, as well as reproducing the best of the better-known poems. The editor believes that most soldiers believed the war to be necessary, but wanted the costs acknowledged and the truth told to power in a way that reunited art and ethics. The anthology begins with Thomas Hardy and also includes poetry by civilians and women poets like May Sinclair and Charlotte Mew, which I had not seen before. The latter reminds us that spring will come again to the scorched, blackened woods and wounded trees. I remember visiting the battlefields in the 1970s and remarking that no tree was more than 50 years old. There is also a section on music hall and trench songs, and each poet is introduced with a biographical note. This is a superb collection that should be in the library of every enthusiast for war poetry.