SAXON BOOKS

The need for a new kind of war poetry anthology
More than twenty five years ago anthologies of poetry of the First World War were rarely more than a bare collection of poems almost exclusively by men, and completely without any background information about the poets and their experiences, the particular circumstances in which poems were written, little or nothing about the nature of the war. They tended to present one cynical attitude to the war completely missing out on the changing and very varied responses poets had to the war.

The experiences of women were a glaring omission.

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MINDS AT WAR and OUT IN THE DARK, published by Saxon Books, give a more balanced insight into the war and its poetry. These books set a new standard for war poetry anthologies by including relevant, personal comments from the diaries and letters of poets and their contemporaries and succinct but highly relevant historical insights.  They remain two of the best anthologies of poetry of the First World War. Minds at War will be of real help to students of the history of the First World War.

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The leading war poetry website
I created The War Poetry Website in 1999. It was at the top of Google searches for "war poetry" for many years and remains highly ranked with up to a million visitors a year. It was planned to present information about the First World War, its poets and my anthologies. The website was warpoetry.co.uk and has been replaced by the updated warpoetry.uk 

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Contemporary war poetry from the battlefronts (from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan)
Many contemporary serving soldiers, sailors and airmen sent me their poems and many of these were presented on the website.

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Remembrance Poems
"Remembrance Poems" was  a major interest of visitors to the website and an extensive range of poetry is presented there. I produced the book of remembrance poems and readings in response to this interest.

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Poetry of the Kosovo and Falklands War
The wars in Kosovo (1999) and the Falklands (1982) were other interests, both with aftermaths for communities and combatants which are little appreciated by UK citizens. Everyone interested in war poetry will find these more recent wars fascinating and their poetry worthy of study.

 

French poetry of the First World War
More recently the translator, Ian Higgins, introduced me and other English readers to the impressive poetry of the First World War written by French soldiers and civilians.

David Roberts     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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