Description
From Jill Hamilton, a moving anthology of poetry from the Great War written by the men who fought on the Eastern Front, accompanied by a fascinating look at the war as it was fought in the desert.
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It is almost ninety years since the Great War came to an end, and in that time there has never been a collection of poetry written by the men who fought in Gallipoli, Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia and Syria. Countless anthologies, however have been inspired by the horrors of the trenches on the Western Front. This is probably because the battles of the Near and Middle East have always been seen as a side-show, despite the fact that the number of casualties was enormous. To address this imbalance, Jill Hamilton has delved into various archives around the world and brought to light 101 poems. Not only are these poems written by Australian, English, Irish and Scottish soldiers, but there are also poems by Turks and Arabs.Accompanying the poems is a commentary that builds up a picture of the different armies, the bloodshed, the privations and sacrifice of the men, ultimately revealing that each poem is the product of war.Poets include Banjo Paterson, Leon Gellert, Rupert Brooke, Siegfried Sassoon, John Masefield, T.E. Lawrence, Clement Attlee, James Griffyth Fairfax, Edwin Gerard, Tom Skeyhill, F. E. Westbrook, Francis Ledwidge, Geoffrey Dearmer, and many others.
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