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kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review against another edition
5.0
We tend to neglect World War I here in the United States. We do. Go to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. You have the Vietnam War Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, and the World War II Memorial (which despite what several critics say, is absolutely stunning). There is, in fact, a Great War Memorial on the Mall. It's set off a bit, and was obivously done before WW II. A few years ago, it was surronded by dense shrubs and trees, and it needed to be cleaned. I stumbled across it by accident. The park service has finally started to rehab it, and hopefully more people will see it.
We tend to neglect WW I here because we weren't in it very long. We didn't lose as much as the other countries. England, France, Germany - lost, really lost. This neglect is misguided because WW I did change things, in particular in politics, art, literature, and life. It set the stage for WW II among other wars.
Graves was one of those young men who fought in WW I. He, [a:Siegfried Sassoon|146538|Siegfried Sassoon|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1210181586p2/146538.jpg], and [a:Wilfred Owen|4242|Wilfred Owen|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1211230350p2/4242.jpg] were at the same war time hospital. (They hung out with HG Wells). People know Graves for his other work, in particular, [b:I, Claudius|18765|I, Claudius|Robert Graves|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167094189s/18765.jpg|4232388] because of the mini-series with John Hurt dressing as a girl and prancing around. But Graves wrote poetry, and this collection contains War poetry as well as life affirming poetry (some of which is based on fairy tales).
Those who like Owen will see in Graves a very familiar style, in paticular with Graves' poem about David and Golitah which echoes Owen's "The Parable of the Old Man and the Young". Another excellent poem is to [a:John Skelton|322498|John Skelton|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg], and this poem should be read aloud. My favorite, though, is "St Edward and the Old Man". Love that one.
We tend to neglect WW I here because we weren't in it very long. We didn't lose as much as the other countries. England, France, Germany - lost, really lost. This neglect is misguided because WW I did change things, in particular in politics, art, literature, and life. It set the stage for WW II among other wars.
Graves was one of those young men who fought in WW I. He, [a:Siegfried Sassoon|146538|Siegfried Sassoon|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1210181586p2/146538.jpg], and [a:Wilfred Owen|4242|Wilfred Owen|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1211230350p2/4242.jpg] were at the same war time hospital. (They hung out with HG Wells). People know Graves for his other work, in particular, [b:I, Claudius|18765|I, Claudius|Robert Graves|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167094189s/18765.jpg|4232388] because of the mini-series with John Hurt dressing as a girl and prancing around. But Graves wrote poetry, and this collection contains War poetry as well as life affirming poetry (some of which is based on fairy tales).
Those who like Owen will see in Graves a very familiar style, in paticular with Graves' poem about David and Golitah which echoes Owen's "The Parable of the Old Man and the Young". Another excellent poem is to [a:John Skelton|322498|John Skelton|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg], and this poem should be read aloud. My favorite, though, is "St Edward and the Old Man". Love that one.
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