Strange Meetings

The Lives of the Poets of the Great War

Harry Ricketts

$37.99

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Pimlico
15 November 2012

An unusual and moving account of the lives and work of the poets of the Great War, 1914-1918.

Strange Meetings provides a highly original account of the War Poets of 1914-1918, written through a series of actual encounters, or near-encounters, from Siegfried Sassoon's first, blushing meeting with Rupert Brooke over kidneys and bacon at Eddie Marsh's breakfasts before the war, through famous moments like Sassoon's encouragement of Wilfred Owen when both were in hospital, on to the last, strange lunch and 'longish talk' of Sassoon and David Jones in 1964, half a century after the Great War began.

Among the other poets and writers we encounter are Vera Brittain, Roland Leighton, Robert Graves, Isaac Rosenberg, Robert Nichols and Edmund Blunden. We follow their relationships, marking their responses to each other's work and showing how these affected their own poetry.

We come to know each of the poets, their family and intellectual backgrounds and their very different personalities. We get a fresh sense of Georgian poetry, conveying all the excitement and frustration of poetic creation, and demonstrating how the whole notion of what poetry should be 'about' became fractured and changed for ever by the terrible experiences of the war.

By: Harry Ricketts
Imprint: Pimlico
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm, Spine: 22mm
Weight: 404g
ISBN: 9781845951801
ISBN 10: 1845951808
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 15 November 2012
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Harry Ricketts is a poet, writer and critic. After studying English at Oxford he lectured in Hong Kong and Leicester and now teaches literature and creative writing at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. In addition to his collections of poetry, essays - and brilliant studies of cricket - his critical books include the acclaimed biography The Unforgiving Minute- A Life of Rudyard Kipling.

Reviews for Strange Meetings: The Lives of the Poets of the Great War

Constantly engaging, amiable account of one of the golden periods of English poetry Literary Review This fascinating book gives a realistic and very human account of the lives and works of these great poets Financial Times A haunting, almost cinematic group biography -- David Kynaston Guardian An unusual book which merits the attentions of anyone who cares about poetry -- Robert Nye Tablet Beautifully written and elegant Daily Express