Selected Poems of Ivor Gurney

by Ivor Gurney, P.J. Kavanagh (Editor)

Ivor Gurney (1890-1937), considered one of the finest World War I poets, now takes his rightful place alongside the greats of English poetry. His range is wide, including the First World War, in which he served as an infantry private; passionate celebration of his native Gloucestershire; and
fears of the mental imbalance which led to his eventual confinement in a mental hospital. Out of these experiences, he created poetry that is entirely unique, vigorous, musical, and direct. This selection of over 150 of his best poems, has been compiled by the poet P.J. Kavanagh from his edition of
the Collected Poems of Ivor Gurney . This reissued edition offers , a few corrected readings, as well as a useful Chronology and Introduction to Gurney's life by P. J. Kavanagh.

Genres: Poetry, War, Literature

166 pages, Paperback

First published May 17, 1990

About the author

Composer and author Ivor Gurney was born in Gloucester and was educated at the cathedral there where he proved a very gifted student. He began composing music at the age of 14 and in 1911 secured a scholarship to the Royal College of Music. He was described by Charles Villiers Stanford as potentially "the biggest" of many distinguished pupils he had taught-which included Ralph Vaughn Williams-but, also as "unteachable." This being because of his propensity for mood swings which not only made concentration very difficult for him, but also precipitated in a breakdown in 1913.
After the outbreak of the First World War he enlisted as a private soldier with the Gloucester Regiment. It was during the war where he began to write poetry. Just before completing his first book of poetry, Severn and the Somme, he was wounded in the shoulder in April 1917. He returned to active duty not long after finding a publisher for his book to be gassed in September that same year. While recovering he fell in love with nurse Annie Nelson Drummond who initially reciprocated his feelings only to sever their correspondence before a second breakdown in February 1918.
Following the war his mental condition deteriorated further to the point where he was declared insane by his family in 1922. He spent his remaining years institutionalized, where he yet remained prolific albeit largely unrecognized.
After his death from tuberculosis in 1937 his friend Marion Scott worked to preserve his letters and manuscripts.
Some two-thirds of his musical output remains unpublished.
Ivor Gurney is commemorated as one of 16 Great War Poets in Westminster Abbey.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ivor Gurney gets my vote for most underrated English poet of the 20th century. His (mis)characterization as a war poet is partly responsible for this neglect. He was indeed a war poet, but he was also something else, something other, something quite strange... Much of his best work dates from the decade after the war, right before and then during his confinement to a mental institution. These poems startle with their peculiar syntax and odd, complicated music (Gurney was a fine composer, too, mostly of songs, some of which have passed into the canon of early 20th century English art-song).

His late work -he died of tuberculosis, age 37- is studded with remarkable, hallucinatory, sometimes harrowing poems, difficult in their compact strangeness. He should be better known...

[Helbob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought there would be no way I'd get through this book of poems and then suddenly I just started to find the rhythm of them and found them variously beautiful, moving and sometimes downright disturbing. This is in part due to his subject matter which moves shockingly between the landscape and natural world of Gloucestershire, the horror and blunt edges of the First World War and the confusing and disturbing slide into mental illness and eventual incarceration in an institution. I'm really glad I got to know Ivor Gurney.

[Ray's Artshelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Songs come to the mind-
Other men's songs
Or one's own, when something is kind
And remembers not any wrongs.

Swift cleaving paths in air
On a bicycle, or slow
Wandering and wondering where
One's purposes may go.

Songs come and are taken, written,
Snatched from the momentary
Accidents of light, shape, spirit meeting
For one light second spirit, unbelievably.

Gurney's 'Songs come to the mind' is as concise and sincere a poem about composing (in its broader sense) as we could hope for.

I read a very little of Gurney at school, where he was treated by the syllabus as a minor boundary between acres of Owen. I'm enjoying rediscovering his work in this lovely collection.

[Paul Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ivor Gurney is a neglected figure of First World War poetry. He was also a very talented musician but his career as poet and musician was blighted by severe mental illness and he spent the last 15 years of his life in a mental hospital. This an excellent collection of his poems. Some, due to his illness, are hard to penetrate but the best of them are amazingly poignant and immediate. Thoroughly recommended.

[Patricia N. McLaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully crafted poems, rich with vivid images and keen observations of life and death, especially those written in the trenches during World War I.

Favorite Poems:
“Hark, Hark Lark”
“Hail and Farewell”
“Communion”
“Requiem”
“The Ballad of Three Spectres”