Wilfrid Gibson's volume of war poems Battle (1915).

This volume of war poems is a striking example of Gibson's attempt to write a more realisitc, non-heroic poetry of the First World War, later made famous by the work of Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. It has never before been reprinted in its original published form.

Introduced by Kelsey Thornton formerly Professor of English University of Birmingham.

Detailed Description

Instead of glorification of war, Gibson's poems see war as arbitrary, bitter and inhuman. Intriguingly he manages to create a vivid sense of the impact of war on the ordinary soldier without the first-hand experience of serving in the forces. He found material in the newspapers, and probably in the conversation of those he met, and transformed it into his bleak poems.

The original book was well received and was published in a cheap format, bound in almost khaki paper covers and sold at a shilling a copy so that it was availble to a popular audience.

Gibson continued to publish as a reviewer and poet until after the Second World War and died in 1962.