Ivor Gurney: 80 Poems or So

by Ivor Gurney

In 1922 Ivor Gurney entered the Dartford asylum where he was to stay for the rest of his life. Only an occasional poem in a magazine was published and he died in 1937. In 1982 Collected Poems, edited by P.J. Kavanagh was published. Kavanagh produced the Collected and Selected Poems in 1982 and 1990. Gurney had put volumes of poetry together, as John Clare did a century earlier, without hope of publication. This collection is published to mark the 60th anniversary of Gurney's death.

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

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Some two-thirds of his musical output remains unpublished.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

[archive ☄ · Rating 4 out of 5]

we bide our fate as best betides,
what ends the tale may prove the first.
stars know as truly of their guides
as we the truth of best or worst.

truly the work of, as his best friend the composer herbert howells once called him, "a strange, erratic, lovable, brilliant, exasperating, unteachable but wholly compelling youth." a gorgeous collection of poems, most of them expounding on the neverending glories of his native gloucestershire. ivor was known to spend 5, 10, 12 hours wandering gloucester, the cotswolds in particular, sleeping beneath the stars when night fell and picking up where he left off in the morning. his familiarity with the natural world clearly shows – he has such a landscape painter's way with words! i would have loved to walk with him (although, annoying man that he was, we likely would have argued the entire time – worth it ?? i'd say so 😌)