War Poems; War Poems Teaching Resources

First published in 1991, War Poems contains poems and background material from the Napoleonic Wars, through the First and Second World Wars ending with a short section on the post-Hiroshima era.

War Poems Teaching Resources has background notes and activities to support the original anthology and an updated more detailed section on late twentieth-century wars. The books are aimed at 14-16 year olds studying for GCSE and can be used for English coursework or the study of poetry as part of the National Curriculum. Poets range from Byron and Hardy through some less familiar poems and women poets as well as the well known war poets (with a particularly good section on ‘Dulce Et Decorum Est’), to the Cold War and then Mitchell, McGough and Ewart. The later sections on Bosnia and the Gulf war are thought-provoking, especially now when it seems increasingly likely that we will be leaving this century in exactly the same situation that we entered it – at war, with W H Auden’s chilling statement ‘poetry makes nothing happen’ ringing in our heads.

Both books are packed with information on the poets, the period and the history. There are photos, paintings, posters, cartoons and original manuscripts. Teaching Resources contains fresh material with maps and date charts. There are two tiered activities for mixed ability groups which include analysis of the poems, research and questions for close study of the texts. I have two criticisms here, some of the questions become too like comprehension exercises and despite the updating of the later sections I would have liked to see a wider range of British poets and more poets from other cultures represented in the late twentieth-century section. However, Martin has still achieved that rare feat – a school book which should appeal to both pupil and teacher. If you are studying war poems, teaching war poems or just interested, these two books offer an accessible, informative and fascinating study of the subject.