Poetry of the Empire

Margi Blunden, daughter of Edmund Blunden, talks about her father and his work.

Adrian Barlow looks at the impact of World War One poets in the years immediately following the War, in late 20s and early 30s, and as we embark on the 100 year anniversary of the conflict. Adrian Barlow is the President of the English Association and series editor of Cambridge Contexts in Literature. Previously he was Director of Public and Professional Programmes at the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education.

World War One was a conflict of empire, not of nation. In this lecture Dr Simon Featherstone looks at four distinctive poets who provide a version of empire that is much more nuanced than the imperial rhetoric of the established canon. Dr Simon Featherstone is Principal Lecturer in Drama Studies at De Montfort University with a specialism in postcolonial studies; Englishness; national identities; and war poetry.

Meg Crane looks at the war poems of Siegfried Sassoon, framed by the first and last (non-war) poems of his literary career. Meg Crane is a teacher and President of the Siegfried Sassoon Fellowship.

Professor Gerald Dawe relates the Irish poetry of World War One to the history of Ireland itself and explores why the first anthology of Irish WW1 Poetry was only published in 2008. Professor Gerald Dawe is the Director of the Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing and Director of M.Phil in Creative Writing at Trinity College Dublin. He is the editor of the first anthology of Irish war poetry 'Earth Voices Whispering: Irish war poetry 1914-1945 (2008)'.

Often overlooked, Dr Stuart Lee introduces David Jones and his seminal work 'In Parenthesis'.

Professor Jon Stallworthy, editor and biographer of Wilfred Owen, introduces one of the most notable poets of World War One.

Author and editor, Jean Liddiard, presents the life and work of Isaac Rosenberg.

Dr Philip Lancaster presents the life of literary musician Ivor Guney, and introduces some the key themes in his poetry. Philip Lancaster is a writer and composer, a leading textual and critical scholar specialising in early twentieth century music and poetry, and a solo baritone and consort singer. He is a current Finzi Scholar, and a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Exeter.

In this short talk Dr Stuart Lee introduces some of the primary sources of World War One poetry: manuscripts. Visit Oxford's online First World War Poetry Digital Archive to explore the manuscripts of the major British World War One poets (http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit).