Collected Poems: Alun Lewis

The poems of one of the great British writers of World War II are compiled in this collection of war poetry whose brilliance and scope transcends its genre. Widely considered the last works in the Romantic style, the poetry is characterized by a vivid realism and emotional power. The poems spans the length of its artist's late adolescence and early adulthood, tracing the developing mastery of the poet and serving as a tragic testament to the lost potential of a literary figure whose accidental death at the age of 28 prevented him from reaching the full height of his artistic power.

Alun Lewis, (1915-1944), the remarkable poet and short story writer, died, aged 28, in Burma in the Second World War. Some critics see him as the last of the great Romantic poets, a twentieth century Keats. Others describe his poetry as the path from pre-war Yeats and Auden to post-war poets like Hughes and Gunn. In Wales there are those who think his greater versatility and finer intelligence place him above his contemporaries Dylan Thomas and R.S. Thomas. Born and brought up near Aberdare, a mining region in south Wales, Lewis read history at Aberystwyth and Manchester universities with scholarships. After a brief period teaching in Caerphilly and despite pacifist inclinations, he enlisted in the Royal Engineers. He later joined the South Wales Borderers and was posted to India. Becoming a soldier had a stimulating effect on Lewis's writing: 'Raiders' Dawn', a collection of forty-seven poems, appeared in 1942 and early in 1943, The Last Inspection, a book of short stories, was published, both to considerable critical acclaim. Lewis died in an accident during active service in Burma in 1944. His second volume of poems, 'Ha! Ha! Among the Trumpets', was published in 1945 alongside his Indian short stories, together with some letters, in In The Green Tree (1948). 'Morlais', Lewis' previously unpublished novel from the 1930s, was published by Seren Books in July 2015.