Out of Battle

The poetry from 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 war poets and their work, Out of Battle explores in depth the variety of responses from Rupert Brook, Ford Madox Ford, Seigfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Isaac 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 this 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.