Peace and War: A Collection of Poems - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0192760718 ISBN 13: 9780192760715

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1990

Synopsis

"The war poems of slaughter and loss in this anthology say as much about peace as do the few idyllic pastoral poems. Of the nearly 200 poems, a few are difficult, but most are dramatic and immediate. There's intense booktalk material here, terrifying action told with burning truth." --
Booklist (starred review)
This comprehensive anthology, now in paperback, spans lands and cultures throughout the world from the time of Ancient Greece and Rome to the uneasiness of the present and the uncertainly of the future. Such poets as Aeschuylus, Milton, Blake, Shakespeare, Robert Frost, Rupert Brooke, Carl
Sandburg and others reflect the central place that feelings of peace and war occupy in our hearts and minds.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Harrison and Christopher Stuart-Clark have collaborated on several books for Oxford, including the new Oxford Book of Story Poems.

Reviews

Grade 8 Up-- It is ironic that it is the tragic oneness of mankind that is underlined in this thorough collection, as the horrors of war and the fragility of peace are set out in nearly 200 poems that span the ages from biblical times to the atomic age, and encompass poets from many lands and cultures. The poets represented range from Aeschylus, Milton, and Blake, through Wilfren Owen, Rupert Brooke, and Siegfried Sassoon, to Ted Hughes, Denise Levertov, and Laurie Lee. The works are divided thematically and march determinedly from peace, through rumors of war, the height of war itself, into the aftermath, to tenuous peace once more. The sections are not set off by titles within the body of the work, although they are divided by effective pen-and-ink wash drawings that sometimes eerily convey the mood, as war-torn landscapes take over from the cheering crowds, and homeless children find shelter in ruins. Conflicting attitudes towards war and heroes are represented, although the futility of strife seems the ascendant attitude. While other eras and wars are represented, poems concerning the World Wars predominate, as do the contemporary poets of those eras. Women are not as well represented as men. The title and the cover are striking, but an attempt to read the collection from page one on might be disappointing because, while starting with peace is logical, the beginning poems are less than gripping. There are poems in the middle, however, that are startling and moving. A book of indisputable quality that might work best in a classroom situation with a caring teacher. --Annette Curtis Klause, Montgomery County Department of Public Libraries, MD
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0192760718
• ISBN 13: 9780192760715
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Marks Alan
• Number of pages: 208
• Editor: Harrison Michael, Stuart-Clark Christopher