The Oxford Book of War Poetry

by Jon Stallworthy (Editor)

There can be no area of human experience that has generated a wider range of powerful feelings than war. The 250 poems included in this acclaimed anthology span centuries of human conflict from David's lament for Saul and Jonathan, and Homer's Iliad , to the finest poems of the Second World
War, Vietnam, the conflicts in Northern Ireland and El Salvador, and chilling visions of the "Next War." Reflecting the feelings of poets as diverse as Byron, Hardy, Owen, Sassoon, and Heaney, they reveal a great shift in social awareness from man's early celebratory "war songs" to the more recent
"anti-war" attitudes of poets responding to "man's inhumanity to man."

Genres: Poetry, War, Nonfiction, Literature, History, Military History, Anthologies

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Jon (Howie) Stallworthy (18 January 1935 – 19 November 2014) FBA FRSL was Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Oxford. He was also a Fellow (and was twice Acting President) of Wolfson College, a poet, and a literary critic. From 1977 to 1986, he was the John Wendell Anderson Professor of English at Cornell.

Stallworthy was born in London. His parents, Sir John Stallworthy and Margaret Stallworthy, were from New Zealand and moved to England in 1934. Stallworthy started writing poems when he was only seven years old. He was educated at the Dragon School, Rugby School and at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he won the Newdigate prize. His works include seven volumes of poetry, and biographies of Wilfred Owen and Louis MacNeice. He has edited several anthologies and is particularly known for his work on war poetry.

While researching the local history of New Zealand Stallworthy discovered an obscure volume entitled Early Northern Wairoa written by his great-grandfather, John Stallworthy (1854–1923), in 1916. From this book he learned that his great-great-grandfather, George Stallworthy (1809–1859), had left his birthplace of Preston Bissett in Buckinghamshire, England, for the Marquesas as a missionary. This discovery led in turn to him finding family-related letters in the archives of the London Missionary Society. Stallworthy's book A Familiar Tree (Oxford University Press, 1978) is a collection of poetry inspired by events depicted in these documents. Singing School is an autobiography which emphasises Stallworthy's development as a poet.

Stallworthy wrote a short summary of war poetry in the introductory chapter to the Oxford Book of War Poetry (Edited by Jon Stallworthy, Oxford University Press, 1984), as well as editing several anthologies of war poetry and writing a biography of Wilfred Owen. In 2010 he received the Wilfred Owen Poetry Award from the Wilfred Owen Association. In the course of his literary career, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the British Academy.

Reviews

[Cathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rather definitive collection of war poetry, including some from non-Western cultures.

[lucia]

stay right there babygirl im coming back for u

[Johanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this collection of poems very much. It was interesting to follow the change in how wars are depicted - since the poems are ordered in chronological order to the wars they each tell of.

My favorite authors, which I will probably be looking more into are - in no particular order:

John Donne (1572-1631)
John Dryden (1631-1700)
Daniel Defoe (1660-1731)
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)
William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863)
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)
Charles Sorley (1895-1915)
Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)
Herbert Read (1893-1968)

[Jwduke · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like poetry, don't buy this book.

If you are a veteran from war looking for some closure, it might help.

[Shehzor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweeping review of humanity's experience with war. Fills you with an understanding of all the various perspectives human beings have looked at war with. From the ideas of glory and vitality found in the ancient anonymous poets, to the powerful anti-war sentiments of Wilfred Owen and WB Yeats. A book like this leaves you with not only an understanding of how humanity has perceived war, but also of the evolution of poetry, which is essentially the "spontaneous overflow of emotions". This idea is discussed in the introduction, and the importance of the genre of war poetry becomes clearer when we consider that no event or situation leads to a more powerful overflow of emotions than war.

[Maryam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection; the organization is impressive. Though mostly European poems, there's a good amount of Eastern works in here, too. A must-have in every poetry lover's library.

[John Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed most of these poems especially Wilfred Owen / Siegfried Sasson /

[Dayna Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

An epic collection of war poetry from all eras by a wide range of poets. It is arranged in chronological order and has a selection of footnotes to explain the various battles referred to in the poems. A magnificent collection of poetry, every poetry lover should own this anthology.

[Bernadette · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://rantsravesreviews.homestead.co...

[Trevor Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend gave me this book and I love it. It's great to pick up and read every once in a while. The poetry is good and challenging.

[Genie McFate]

A horrible and beautiful read all at once. Such as one poem's description about the ghastly, deadly affects of mustard gas.

[Tom Batalias · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection which includes one of my all-time favorites; Rudyard Kipling's "Tommy".

[Thomas A Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Influential, famous poems on the subject of the world wars. This collection of poetry made me appreciate poetry more.