The War Poets - Reviews - Anthem for Doomed Youth: Twelve Soldier Poets of the First World War - Book Review

Contemporary Review, July, 2003 by Anthony Radice

Anthem for Doomed Youth: Twelve Soldier Poets of the First World War. Jon Stallworthy. Constable. [pounds sterling]14.99. 192 pages. ISBN 1-84119-635-5.

On first appearances, this volume looks rather like a 'coffee-table' publication. The purpose of the abundant photographs and reproductions is not always clear. Strange visual features include photographs of letters reproduced so small as to be barely legible. Is this the simulation of literary-historical writing, or the thing itself? The dustjacket does nothing to allay suspicion, peddling the usual tripe about the transition from 'false' patriotism and ideals to 'true' honor, about the 'unflinching accuracy' of the WWI poets. It sells the book on the obvious, tabloid human interest line: the shock expose, the eye-witness account. But do not be dissuaded; battle past the gloss and hype and you will be rewarded. Jon Stullworthy's subtitle actually sidesteps the crude question of whether his poets saw action, and whether they are therefore 'allowed' to offer their accounts. Soldiers do not always see action, and the action that they see is various in degree and type. He comments of Rupert Brooke that 'he is a soldier poet but [...] he is not a war poet. He is a poet of peace, a celebrant of friendship, love and laughter'.

The author deals elegantly with the question of sincerity. He is offering twelve poets, he remarks in his introduction, 'who were true to their different forms of experience'. This phrase is a crafty combination of two elements that might have been opposites: 'form' and 'experience'. One might ask whether the poets were most true to form (the words, and the order that they impose), or to experience (the honor of uncontrollable streaming sensory impressions). But a great poem is not simply form, nor purely experience; it is, in fact, a 'form of experience'. All Mr Stall worthy can say, as a sensitive critic and as a poet himself, is that these were poets who were true to their poems. Of more than this one can never be certain.

An admirable balance is struck between accessibility and scholarly detail. Each poet receives a critical and biographical appraisal and analysis, which is usually followed by a selection of their poems. In the case of Rupert Brooke, the balance is particularly striking: the critical section evinces a scholar's genuine interest in the obscure and the circumstantial, but the actual selection from the poetry could not be more mainstream, or more crowd-pleasing. After the scholarly detours via Granchester and Tahiti, we are given the five War Sonnets, with their recurring versions of Platonic England: still, calm, unruffled by particularity, and as Grecian as the handsome faces of the photographs. This classical selection from Brooke's work could be traced in part to the volume's general desire to be representative, to include all those poets whose poems speak for the various parts of the voiceless multitude of soldiers. To this end we have a generous selection from the work of the Irish volunteer, Francis Ledwid ge, and a substantial (considering his minor literary importance) appraisal of the boxing, fighting, galloping versifier Julian Grenfell. Not all those who fought found killing disgusting: some found it an exhilarating experience.

Ultimately, though, the reward of literary history is the greater enjoyment of the major poets once they have been placed next to their less illustrious brethren. Poets of the calibre of Sassoon and Owen wrought their forms of experience into enduring myths that have become themselves an important part of our historical perception of WWI. Jon Stallworthy's firm scholarly foundations, combined with his critical sensitivity and lightness of touch, make this book an excellent introduction to their work.