Other Men's Flowers

by Archibald Wavell

First published in 1944, during the darkest days of the war, Lord Wavell's great anthology of English poetry - enhanced by his own introduction and annotations - encouraged and delighted many thousands of readers.

It has remained in print every since, proving beyond doubt that, whatever the fashion of the day, poetry can fulfil its ancient function, finding its way to the hearts of the many, not only to the minds of the few.

Genres: Poetry

Hardcover

First published December 31, 1958

About the author

Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell was a senior officer of the British Army. He served in the Second Boer War, the Bazar Valley Campaign and the Great War, during which he was wounded in the Second Battle of Ypres. He served in the Second World War, initially as Commander-in-Chief Middle East, in which role he led British forces to victory over the Italians in western Egypt and eastern Libya during Operation Compass in December 1940, only to be defeated by the German Army in the Western Desert in April 1941. He served as Commander-in-Chief, India, from July 1941 until June 1943 (apart from a brief tour as Commander of ABDACOM) and then served as Viceroy of India until his retirement in February 1947.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have seen 'Dead Poets Society', especially the bit at the end where the other teacher takes over the class, you will know how poetry was taught at my school. On joining the army as an apprentice I had to take mandatory English lessons (that is, grammar and essay writing, not language) and remarked to my instructor that I hated poetry. He lent me his copy of this delightful book and then had to wait about five years before I gave it back to him.

The book is collection of all the poetry that Wavell could write down from memory. (He was taught in the same way as me; learn the poem by heart, boy!!!!!) Wavell's comments on the poetry taught me to love a poem from it's sound rather than its structure; after all, you don't need to have a degree in music to like a song. I can recommend the book for anyone who had the same experience in school that I had and it tickles me sometimes to think that I was taught to like poetry by a Field Marshal.

[Faith Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's like one of those popular-classic concerts for people in a hurry, where you dip in and only hear the arias then get to feel good about yourself and your shallow sampling of knowledge. Andre Rieu or Raymond Gubbay presents... someone else's best bits. The original works are, of course, by undeniably serious talents and beyond that sort of criticism. This also comes out of the old Japanese tradition that a great soldier or general should also be a poet.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's so difficult to award this anthology stars. Many of the poems are not to my taste and yet they are undoubtedly treasures of the English language. I therefore bestow it with either 3 stars or 5 stars; I'm not sure which. https://icannever.wordpress.com/2015/...

[Conrad Kinch · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mature, considered and well loved collection. Well worth a look.

[e · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favourite poem of the anthology so far is W. B. Yeats’ ‘When You Are Old’:

“When you are old and gray and full of sleep
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true;
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face.

And, bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled
And paces upon the mountains overhead,
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.”

I say ‘so far’, not just because I haven’t read the entirety of the collection, but also because I know that this is something I’ll continue to dip into for several years (even when I’m old and gray and full of sleep, perhaps!) Each time I read ‘Other Men’s Flowers’ I am introduced to a new favourite (old) poem.

Wavell’s anecdotal comments alongside the poems give the anthology a depth that I haven’t encountered in many others - and the reminder that one man committed these sprawling verses to memory astounds me every page. Truly beautiful poems, even greater story behind them.

[Lindsay Erwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of poetry of all kinds collected by Lord Wavell, Viceroy of India. It's in sections like - Music, Mystery and Magic, Good Fighting (appropriate for a soldier), Love & all that ( very English restrained chap stuff!) etc. There are a lot of annotations too, which are enlightening. Lepanto, by Chesterton is about the last naval battle fought mainly by galleys, but Wavell explains the context and also details such as Cervantes, author of Don Quixote settling his sword back in its sheath - which would have been difficult as he was badly wounded in the hand. Also some snippets in the Love bit are very evocative from lesser known poets. Laurence Hope is included - not a man, but a woman. She used this pseudonym possible as poetry was still a male preserve is some settings. She was Adela Florence Nicolson nee Cory who married an Indian army officer twice her age. They were happy, but he died after surgery, and she took her own life later on.
It's an unusual mix, but benefits from being the collection of an enthusiast. I understand it's been in print since 1943.

[Pollymoore3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure I share Wavell's old-fashioned taste for gung-ho rumpety tumpety verse (lots of Kipling and Chesterton and many lesser versifiers), and definitely not his taste for battle (he was, after all, a General), but there is something quaintly potty and very English in the idea of a battle-scarred general remembering and quoting huge chunks of verse with such relish. He diffidently offers his own rather delightful "Madonna of the Cherries" at the very end.
Among other favourites here are: "Tom o' Bedlam's Song", Stephen Hawes' "O mortal folk you may behold and see", Belloc's "Courtesy", and Ralph Hodgson's 'Twould ring the bells of heaven", which goes well with Blake's "Auguries of Innocence".

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

The one and only book of poetry that I truly adore.

I love that Wavell's mind works like mine: capturing snippets here and there. I love that he published them, and I love that so many of them have become my favorites. I recited them during high school PE to entertain myself while running. Fifteen years later, I still know them by heart. :)

I won't say that I agree with all of the views expressed in the poems, but I can say that they're all quotable, and many are simply beautiful.

[David Szondy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my all-time favourite book of poetry that got me through an incredibly rough time in my life. I've worn out two copies and now I have a very sturdily bound edition with a plastic dust cover protector that should last a few decades. It's a wonderful and personal anthology of verse that is distinctly masculine and fitting for a soldier or a stoic as well as a romantic. It's a shame it's so hard to find today.

[Elvis Doubleday · Rating 4 out of 5]

The poems that feature were all, at one point or another, accessible to the writer entirely from memory. Written in the Far East during the Second World War, the author's selection reveals, alongside insightful and oftentimes amusing notes, his taste for the more traditional poems, disliking a modern tendency to wrap poetry in a "napkin of obscurity".

[Matthew_Ainsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

An anthology of poems that Archibald Wavell could recite from memory (supposedly).
After some poems are his annotations, it is nice to see his thoughts and history as to why this poem is impactful to him.
If I were to have a desert island disc book, then this would be the one.

[Derek Henderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

For lover's of sturdy poetry à la Kipling...

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

My wife and I were given this medium-sized book of faves as a wedding present 48 years ago. Our copy was long since lost (probably loaned out), but I remember the volume because every poem in it had been committed to memory by the compiler, a distinguished military man. The introduction said, I think, that he memorized a poem a day. I can't tell you for sure a single work that was in it, yet know there were a lot of really good ones, literally memor[iz]able. Wait! I bet a tenner that Invictus is there, and a fiver that Break , break break is, too.

The passage through memory makes this an excellent bed-table poetry book. Tough criticism would probably find in it more second-rate stuff than in an Oxford Book of ___ . I don't mind. Could only rate four stars because I recall nothing of the table of contents. Wouldn't want to learn after bestowing five stars that it overlaps heavily with The Stuffed Owl: An Anthology of Bad Verse, but I doubt that would be the case. Think I'll try to re-get this book.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

I re-read this charming collection, in smatterings, again. It is a marvellous trove of excellent poetry, the old solid reliable conjuring with words.

It has those essential indices for a good collection - both of authors and of first lines, so you can find who exactly 'must go down to the sea again'.

This is especially recommended for anyone who likes to dip into a bid of poetry without necessarily knowing you want to read Burns, or Browning, or Belloc.