Poems website

[seaJane]

It's not particularly indicated by the website name, Poetry by Heart, but this is a fascinating selection of poems written during, or after but about, the Great War. You can move from one to the other with the left/right arrows at the lower left-hand corner.

 

http://www.poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/the-night-patrol/

 

sJ

 

[Fattyowls]

seaJane

 

I'm trying to write something which includes the poetry of the Great War for one of mine who was killed in April 1917 at Arras, so this will be really helpful as I can't lay hands on my anthology of WW1 poems at the moment. I'm struck by how many of the poets were killed or wounded around that time, or in Rosenberg's case in that area if I remember correctly. I can add West to the list, I'd not come across him before. I might actually be on to something for a change, so I might post a follow up thread.

 

Thanks again,

 

Pete.

[paulgranger]

That particular poem (or is it a prose piece) has been a favourite of mine since I first came across it umpteen years ago. Very, very evocative.

[seaJane]

Glad it helps, Pete.

Edward Thomas was KIA near Arras 100 years ago this Sunday as you probably know.

Poemhunter.com is always a good place to look for individual poets.

sJ

[kenf48]

1 hour ago, seaJane said:

 

Edward Thomas was KIA near Arras 100 years ago this Sunday as you probably know.

 

 

Just driving home caught the last episode (of 3) on Radio 4 of, 'in Pursuit of Edward Thomas' 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rglll

worth a listen it follows his commissioned, In Pursuit of Spring' https://www.littletoller.co.uk/the-clearing/alexandra-harris-in-pursuit-of-edward-thomas/

 

Also on Radio 4 at the weekend a play about the poet on the anniversary of his death was trailed.

 

Ken

[seaJane]

Thanks Ken, noted!

[kenf48]

On 06/04/2017 at 12:40, seaJane said:

Thanks Ken, noted!

 

Radio Times says 'if you only listen to one radio drama this year let it be this...Impossible to listen...without weeping'

 

Radio 4 2.30 Saturday 'The Dark Earth and the Light Sky'

 

Ken

[neverforget]

On 06/04/2017 at 10:49, seaJane said:

 

Edward Thomas was KIA near Arras 100 years ago this Sunday as you probably know.

Poemhunter.com is always a good place to look for individual poets.

sJ

Mornin Jane. Strangely, when I enter Poemhunter.com into a Google search, including a voice-search, Google immediately shuts down. 

You may well be aware of 2nd Lt Arthur "Hamish" Mann who died this day 100 years ago at Arras, but I thought I would mention him here in case it may be of interest to someone. 

April 10th 1917.

A poet loses his life.

Second Lieutenant Arthur James “Hamish” Mann of the Black Watch dies of wounds received the previous day at Arras at age 21. Three days before his death he wrote the following poem:

 

"Some lie in graves beside the crowded dead

In village churchyards; others shell holes keep

Their bodies gaping, all their splendour sped.

Peace, O my soul…A Mother’s part to weep. 

Say. Do they watch with keen all-seeing eyes

My own endeavours in the whirling hell?

Ah, God! How great, how grand the sacrifice

Ah, God! The manhood of yon men who fell.

And this is war…Blood and woman’s tears

Brave memories adorn the quaking years."

 

Hamish Mann had written poetry since his teens, a talent which the experience of the trenches first developed, then silenced with his death at Arras in 1917.

Arthur James ‘Hamish’ Mann was born in Broughty Ferry in April 1896. He was educated at George Watson’s College in Edinburgh, and owing to illness, under private tuition. During the early months of the war he assisted at Craigleith Military Hospital, where he joint-edited The Craigleith Chronicle.

Mann was commissioned in July 1915, and drafted to France in August 1916, joining the 8th Battalion Black Watch near Bethune. He survived several battles of the Somme, but was wounded while leading his platoon during the advance at Arras in April 1917, and died on the 10th, five days after his 21st birthday.

Mann had contributed to The Craigleith Chronicle and other Scottish publications under the pen-name ‘Lucas Cappe’. In the brief year he was in service in France, he wrote a good two dozen poems.  His parents collected his poetry, adding to what was written in the trenches some pre-war work and other poems written before he saw active service, and published it as A Subaltern’s Musings in 1918.

Several of the poems in the collection describe the horrors of the battlefield, and a few more are humorous, but most muse upon the nature of war, and the likelihood of his own survival. He manages to face up to death with a matter-of-fact attitude, as in 'Weep Not For Me':

 

"Let memories of me be brave and true:
I would not like to think the Life I gave
Had brought you woe. Be proud, not bent
With gloom, as though some frightful shame had spent
Its fury on your house.
 I die .... What then?
I am but one 'mongst countless finer men."

Source:

http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poets/hamish-mann

Edited 11 April , 2017 by neverforget

[seaJane]

Thank you for that NF.

[neverforget]

9 minutes ago, seaJane said:

Thank you for that NF.

My pleasure sJ. 

Anything to further the cause so sadly neglected herein. 

[Fattyowls]

NF, thanks for this. As I mentioned above I'm working on something about Arras and the poets at the moment and this is an excellent addition, Mann is someone I'd not encountered before. As I have forebears in Edinburgh called Mann it makes it even more interesting.

 

Pete.

[neverforget]

1 hour ago, Fattyowls said:

NF, thanks for this. As I mentioned above I'm working on something about Arras and the poets at the moment and this is an excellent addition, Mann is someone I'd not encountered before. As I have forebears in Edinburgh called Mann it makes it even more interesting.

 

Pete.

So pleased to have helped mate.?

[David Ridgus]

On 6 April 2017 at 12:38, kenf48 said:

 

Just driving home caught the last episode (of 3) on Radio 4 of, 'in Pursuit of Edward Thomas' 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rglll

worth a listen it follows his commissioned, In Pursuit of Spring' https://www.littletoller.co.uk/the-clearing/alexandra-harris-in-pursuit-of-edward-thomas/

 

Also on Radio 4 at the weekend a play about the poet on the anniversary of his death was trailed.

 

Ken

 

Just listened to 'In Pursuit of Edward Thomas' on catch up, thanks for the heads up. Am girding my loins to listen to the play broadcast last week

 

David

[kenf48]

Know what you mean, Mata Hari this morning, 'Home Front' starts on Monday, it's an effort to keep up wit Radio 4  ?

 

I see Tommies is also back on Monday episode 2/3 missed 1 completely! Still there's always iPlayer.

 

Ken 

Edited 15 April , 2017 by kenf48

[Don]

A recent Poem of mine 

 

When I come Home

When I come home I will be a Boy again.

Forgetting horrors I will leave  behind.

I will eat well and drink hot tea.

Taste fresh bread and love sweet cakes.

And there will be My loving Mother.

Who will guide me to sound sleep.

In a clean bed of soft white sheets.

The air will be silent  and sweet.

No reason to cringe and weep.

When I come home again I will be a Boy again 

 

Gerry Donnelly 2020

  

 

This poem was written in 2020 in Essex Farm Cemetery November graveyard in the Ypres Salient