mar_nieves's review against another edition
5.0
A miña comfort read. podería falar disto durante 48 horas solo pausando para darlle un sorbito ao meu mencía.
jiayuanc's review against another edition
3.0
A decent anthology. My star rating here is reflective of the book's outline. I disliked the way the editors have chosen to lay out the poems. The chapters list a general theme, without any listing of the titles, authorship and dates of the poems within each theme, which makes finding a specific poem a bit more difficult. I read from the e-book version, which did not provide any index of first lines either, though it looks like this might be available in the print version (?). Mini bios of the poets themselves are relegated to the back of the book, along with the date when the poem was written. For a similar but far better anthology, I would suggest readers look at "Lads" which is a WW1 poetry collection put together by Martin Taylor of the Imperial War Museum in London.
kingorgan's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness, Death, War, and Panic attacks/disorders
woolfardis's review against another edition
3.0
My first read of this book of poetry was purely academically driven and that, as I've discovered in retrospect, has left me feeling nothing but a short wind blowing through a barren wasteland for poetry. Since leaving all academia behind, except via my own volition, I have found a delight in poetry I never knew existed.
Previously I was confused at the layout of this book and I retain that confusion now. Although the poetry is put in to categories, they don't seem to feel as if they should exist. It runs in order of how the War panned out, yes, but that is as far as it allows. There is no contents page to let you know even where those of this order begins and ends and the introduction is tiresome.
The poetry itself, of course, is accessible and rather transcends the giving of stars. It acts as history as much as long prose does, though there are those poems that I did not feel with my heart as much as others. Some that were almost terribly written-only because the author was not a great poet. The poetry by women is probably one of the most important parts of this book and I think they should have been collated altogether, as opposed to how it is, chronologically.
What else can you say about poetry that describes human atrocity?
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Previously I was confused at the layout of this book and I retain that confusion now. Although the poetry is put in to categories, they don't seem to feel as if they should exist. It runs in order of how the War panned out, yes, but that is as far as it allows. There is no contents page to let you know even where those of this order begins and ends and the introduction is tiresome.
The poetry itself, of course, is accessible and rather transcends the giving of stars. It acts as history as much as long prose does, though there are those poems that I did not feel with my heart as much as others. Some that were almost terribly written-only because the author was not a great poet. The poetry by women is probably one of the most important parts of this book and I think they should have been collated altogether, as opposed to how it is, chronologically.
What else can you say about poetry that describes human atrocity?
Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Pinterest | Shop | Etsy
annapurchase's review against another edition
5.0
my favourite poetry anthologies this year. i loved the structure going through the war and explaining each bit. what a beautiful selection of poems that captured the mood at this time and so valuable for studying history. this edition was also excellent as it had a solid 50 pages of notes explaining the allusions and references for each poem and if i ever studied ww1 poetry (unlikely, but nice to think) this would be so helpful.
reedg's review against another edition
4.0
While not the most useful for a quick look-up (the layout of the poems follows a non-traditional logic), this collection provides a good introduction to war poetry.
katebush5ever's review against another edition
4.0
An amazing collection!!! Covers everything you might need, with great historical notes at the beginning. Studying history through poetry is very insightful to the moods and attitudes of the time, and if you're looking to learn more about the first world war, this might be a great place to start! I recommend reading "The Soldier" by Rupert Brooke and "Does it Matter?" by Siegfried Sassoon to show contrasting viewpoints before and after the horrors of modern warfare are revealed.