Perspectives on World War I Poetry

A timely contribution to studies of the poetry of the First World War, Perspectives on World War I Poetry is part of Bloomsbury’s multiple-genre ‘Great War’ collection, whose aim, in the centenary year of the outbreak of the First World War, is to provide a ‘one-stop resource for those seeking to understand the Great War and its impact’ (see: www.bloomsbury.com/ thegreatwar). As the book’s preface sets out, its aims are primarily pedagogical and equalizing: to bring to the foreground of the study of the poetry of the First World War numerous relevant literary theories, while also dispelling the notion that literary theory is difficult or daunting. Many so-called ‘simple’ introductions to the study of literature through literary theory confuse rather than clarify through their attempts at simplification or accessibility, but Evans’s study, perhaps because he chooses a specific literary focus for the theoretical exposition, is not one of these. * Heather H. Yeung, Transnational Literature *
[A] complex and highly literary work ... [and] an interesting addition to academic criticism. * Modern Language Review *
Robert C. Evans’s Perspectives on World War I Poetry provides an accessible, if less traditional guide to the varied poetic responses to the First World War. … [H]e presents multifaceted and detailed analyses of selected poems, greatly enhancing both students’ and the public’s understanding of World War I poetry. … Perspectives on World War I Poetry is an excellent addition to World War I scholarship, one that offers students and general readers alike a new and accessible method of understanding literature from one of the most significant conflicts of the twentieth century. * H-War Reviews *