101 Poems Against War
Faber & Faber
Paperback, 160pp., 9780571220342 (3 March 2003) |
The Times Books of the Year
|
From the earliest times poets have spoken out against the horrors of war – many dying on the battlefields on which they wrote.
This extraordinary anthology gathers together the most startling poems against war ever written - from an infamous last stand in Ancient Greece to the chemical warfare of the present day Gulf. Featuring many of our most treasured poets – Wilfred Owen, Philip Larkin, Stevie Smith and Emily Dickinson among them – 101 Poems Against War selects too from the poems being written across the barricades: the enemy soldier, a German widow, a young Vietnamese boy, and by the Arabic poets of today.
From the men who held their dying friends to the agony of the women left behind, this anthology gathers those moments of warning and protest from all corners of the earth: the times in which it was left to the poets to speak out against the true terror of war.
This extraordinary anthology gathers together the most startling poems against war ever written - from an infamous last stand in Ancient Greece to the chemical warfare of the present day Gulf. Featuring many of our most treasured poets – Wilfred Owen, Philip Larkin, Stevie Smith and Emily Dickinson among them – 101 Poems Against War selects too from the poems being written across the barricades: the enemy soldier, a German widow, a young Vietnamese boy, and by the Arabic poets of today.
From the men who held their dying friends to the agony of the women left behind, this anthology gathers those moments of warning and protest from all corners of the earth: the times in which it was left to the poets to speak out against the true terror of war.
Bookshop.
Reviews.
‘101 Poems Against War is timely. Though published before the Iraq War, its resonances are compelling. . . . The experience of war is everywhere in the Faber anthology.’
– Gerald Dawe, Irish Times
‘The editors of 101 Poems Against War, Matthew Hollis and Paul Keegan, have gathered some of the finest poems there are, on any subject,’
- Tom Payne, Daily Telegraph
‘In a literary response to the groundswell of public opinion against war in Iraq, the country’s leading poetry publishers will rush out an anthology of peace verse today. Faber and Faber’s 101 Poems Against War which includes Harold Pinter, Ted Hughes, Israel’s Nobel nominated Yehuda Amichai, as well as new work by Seamus Heaney, is one of the fastest produced books in its history . . . It seems likely, however, that this latest moving anthology will capture the mood of much of the nation.’
– Christina Patterson, Independent
‘The greatest power of war poetry lies in its integrity, in the way it can work to close the imaginative gulf between those who may sit at home and those who must meet horror face to face. The poems in this volume (the proceeds of which go to charity) work to adjust a dangerously wall-eyed world view.’
– Rachel Campbell-Johnston, The Times
‘Much of the content is very good indeed: it includes some of the best-known work by poets who fought – and died – in the 20th century’s worst conflicts: Wildfred Owen, Keith Douglas, Isaac Rosenberg among them.’
– Adam Newey, Independent on Sunday
‘Lines of poetry and especially Shakespeare are what many remember most from their days at school. It is the way that words implant themselves in your brain like trees of thought, evoking images, opening emotions, providing warmth, serenity and security as well as danger and trauma – creating sensations to be faced – and challenged. This anthology does all that.’
– Gerald Isaaman, Camden New Journal
‘The end result of such a powerful collection of poems is a highly emotive anti-war message. The voices brought together here show the horror and folly that are the inevitable consequence of any conflict. A thought-provoking and superb anthology.’
– Heath Newland, Dunmow Observer, Herts & Essex Observer, Saffron Walden Observer
‘And lest we should forget, 101 Poems Against War corrals a broad range of pieces, from Simonides’ lapidary epitaph for the Spartans to new translations from the Arabic, under an anti-war banner.’
– The Times, Books of the Year
‘This [volume] has been brought out rapidly in response to the build-up to war, and offers plenty of food for thought.’
– Oxford Times