Poets of the First World War

The blurb describes this as a book which 'examines the experiences of soldiers who found artistic expression in their poetry for the horrors of warfare, and looks at the historical, political and social background which shaped the poetry of the war.' Unfortunately, this book cannot decide whether it is a history book or a book about war poets with an historical perspective. The background history is excellent, the photographs, paintings and primary sources are interesting. Disappointingly, the history and the poets remain separate. There is not enough of the poetry and not enough about the poets themselves. The reader is left feeling detached, with only a superficial taste of this great war poetry and the poets who tried to describe and make sense of the situation they were in. They deserve more of a response from us - as the poet Keith Douglas says '... my object ...is to write true things, significant things, in words each of which works for its place in the line...'