Modern English War Poetry

Modern English War Poetry ranges widely across the twentieth century, incorporating detailed discussions of some of the most important poets of the period. It emphasizes the influence of war and war poetry even on those poets usually considered in other contexts, such as Ted Hughes and Geoffrey Hill. - ;Tim Kendall's study offers the fullest account to date of a tradition of modern English war poetry. Stretching from the Boer War to the present day, it focuses on many of the twentieth-century's finest poets - combatants and non-combatants alike - and considers how they address the ethical challenges of making art out of violence. Poetry, we are often told, makes nothing happen. But war makes poetry happen: the war poet cannot regret, and must exalt at, even the most appalling
experiences. Modern English War Poetry not only assesses the problematic relationship between war and its poets, it also encourages an urgent reconsideration of the modern poetry canon and the (too often marginalised) position of war poetry within it. The aesthetic and ethical values on which canonical
judgements have been based are carefully scrutinized via a detailed analysis of individual poets. The poets discussed include Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, Wilfred Owen, Charlotte Mew, Edward Thomas, Ivor Gurney, W. H. Auden, Keith Douglas, Ted Hughes, and Geoffrey Hill. - ;Teachers and scholars of modern British poetry will learn a good deal from Kendall...Kendall's comments on both form and content are also penetrating and useful... his discussion of the unique power and problems inherent in war poetry which will give this book a long shelf life... - Stephen E. Tabachnick, English Literature in Transition: 1880-1920;This is a feisty book; argumentative, enjoyable and I imagine deliberately contentious...Kendall's assertions and arguments...are complex, detailed, forceful, often persuasive...It moves away from the conventional, argues its case with detail and rigour and delights as much as annoys...this book will become the starting point for many a fruitful discussion. - R.K.R.Thornton, Friends of the Dymock Poets Newsletter;Simultaneously brilliant, wide-ranging and troubling - The Hardy Review;...a valuable contribution to poetry criticism. tout court...enlightening and well-written survey - PN review;an ambitious and powerful book... - James Bridges, The Ivor Gurney Society Journal;...a well-written and clearly argued account... - The Hardy Society Journal;As a critic unafraid to have opinions...Kendall is unsentimental in discriminating between the strengths and weaknesses of his men. - Jeremy Noel-Tod, TLS

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