Author Description
The poetry of the Great War is among the most powerful ever written in the English language. Unique for its immediacy and searing honesty, it has made a fundamental contribution to our understanding of and response to war and the suffering it creates. Widely acclaimed as an indispensable guide to the Great War poets and their work, Out of Battle explores in depth the variety of responses from Rupert Brook, Ford Madox Ford, Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Issac Rosenberg and Edward Thomas to the events they witnessed. Other poets discussed are Hardy, Kipling, Charles Sorely, Ivor Gurney, Herbert Read, Richard Aldington and David Jones. For the second edition of Out of Battle, a substantial new preface has been added together with an appendix on the unresolved problems concerning the Owen manuscripts. An updated bibliography provides useful guidance for further reading.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This work investigates the profound impact of the First World War on the development of English poetry and the evolving moral response to mechanized conflict. Jon Silkin, a poet and critic, utilizes his deep familiarity with the craft of verse to analyze how the trauma of the trenches forced a shift in poetic language. He argues that the war poets fundamentally altered the trajectory of 20th-century literature by stripping away romanticized notions of combat in favor of visceral, unvarnished observation.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Critical analysis of major figures including Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, and Isaac Rosenberg
- Examination of the stylistic evolution from early war idealism to later disillusionment
- Detailed appendix regarding the textual history and manuscript challenges of Wilfred Owen's work
Scope Limits
- The analysis is primarily restricted to British poets writing in English
- The text does not provide a comprehensive military history of the war, focusing instead on the literary output
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Scholars and students of literature frequently cite this text as a foundational resource for understanding the intersection of trauma and poetic form during the Great War. Readers often note the academic density of the prose, which provides a rigorous examination of the poets' technical and thematic shifts.
Page Count:
366
Publication Date:
1825-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford Univ Pr
ISBN-10:
0192812254
ISBN-13:
9780192812254
History
Poetry
Criticism history
British literature
Literary Criticism
World War
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