Drawing on biographical information, letters, reminiscences and anecdotes, John Lucas pieces together Gurney's difficult, indeed tragic life, in order to show that Gurney's poetry, while undoubtedly affected by his mental problems, his trench experiences in World War One, and his complex relationship to Gloucester, the Cotswalds and London, is the sane utterance of a deeply radicalized writer. There is no suggestion that Gurney's experiences were unique. On the contrary, they were typical, as he well knew, and as he declares in poems which celebrate the implications of comradeship. What is unique is Gurney's ability to turn these experiences into major poetry. Gurney is the greatest of all those poets who fought in and survived the war and his achievement drastically affects our understanding of twentieth century poetry.

About the Author
John Lucas has written many books including: The Literature of Change, English Poetry: From Hardy to Hughes, Romantic to Modern, and Englishness: Poetry and National Identity, 1688-1900. His celebrated study of Dickens, The Melancholy Man was first published in 1970 and re-published ten years later. He is himself a talented poet, winning the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival Award in 1990 and publishing Flying to Romania: A Sequence in Prose and Verse in 1992.


Book Information
ISBN 9780746308875
Author John Lucas
Format Paperback
Page Count 144
Imprint Liverpool University Press
Publisher Liverpool University Press
Weight(grams) 200g