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Selected Poems

Edmund Blunden

Edited by Robyn Marsack

Cover of Selected Poems by Edmund Blunden
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Categories: 20th Century, British, War writings
Imprint: Carcanet Classics
Publisher: Carcanet Press
Available as:
Paperback (224 pages)
(Pub. Dec 2018)
9781784106874
£16.99 £15.29
eBook (EPUB) Needs ADE!
(Pub. Dec 2018)
9781784106881
£13.59 £12.23
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  • Description
  • Author
  • Reviews
  • To mark the centenary of the First World War, a Selected Poems of Edmund Blunden brings back into print the work of a major war poet and author of the classic memoir Undertones of War. Edmund Blunden joined the Royal Sussex Regiment in 1915, and served in France and Flanders. This selection of his poems includes a substantial sampler of his war verse (the last poem he wrote was on revisiting the battlefields of the Somme). And yet, it is not easy to draw a line between the poems on war and those on other subjects, so deeply did his wartime experience suffuse and haunt his writing. Memories of what was ‘shrieking, dumb, defiled’ constantly test a vision of ‘faith, life, virtue in the sun’. Here is a poet of range and depth deserving of rediscovery.
    Edmund Blunden
    Edmund Blunden (1896–1974) grew up in Kent and went to school in Sussex at Christ’s Hospital; these were the formative landscapes of his boyhood. He joined the Royal Sussex Regiment in 1915, serving in France and Flanders. His collection The Shepherd (1922) made his reputation as a poet; his classic account ... read more
    Robyn Marsack
    Robyn Marsack began her long association with Carcanet Press by editing the first edition of Edmund Blunden’s Selected Poems in 1982, and worked as a publishers’ editor until she became Director of the Scottish Poetry Library 2000–2016. She was a Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at the University of Glasgow 2016–2018. ... read more
     'Some 130 of Blunden's most representative poems are presented in a sympathetic format. Read in conjunction with the insightful introduction and thought provoking post-script, Robyn provides the reader with Blunden's unique perspective as a fighting soldier/survivor. In particular, how war pervades the mind of the survivor for life; how war becomes a condition of mind, which poses the question of the link between memory and identity and how the two coexist.'
    Philip Underwood, Edmund Blunden Society
    Praise for Robyn Marsack 'Readers will be drawn to this book for the poets' letters, but what really dominates is the personality of Schmidt; at the end we are left with a prevailing sense of his editorial vision and an appreciation of his influence and accomplishment in the world of contemporary poetry publishing and criticism... Fifty Fifty is full of energy and play, and not a few crossed swords.'

    Kevin Gardner, Wild Court

     'A window into the award-winning world of Carcanet'
    Tristram Fane Saunders, The Telegraph
    'In celebration of the Manchester-based press' 50th anniversary, a fascinating collection of letters... tracing the eventful history of this small, ambitious and excellent press.'
    The Bookseller
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