Early Twentieth-Century Poetry (Penguin Popular Poetry), edited by David Wright

This was a nice, little, slim collection, containing several poems I already loved, including some evergreen favourites by the likes of Yeats (When You Are Old) and Wilfred Owen (Dulce et Decorum Est), alongside many pieces that were entirely new to me. What I also appreciated was the actual structure of the anthology itself.

The collection begins in a relatively pastoral, almost bucolic mode. Poets such as Yeats and D.H. Lawrence reflect on nature, changing relationships between city and countryside, and the textures of ordinary life. Much of the early poetry is lyrical and richly musical. But as the anthology progresses, it gradually moves towards the devastation of the First World War, ending in the harsh, brutally honest poetry of the trench poets.

That progression creates a narrative of innocence giving way to disillusionment. Early poems about idyllic landscapes and romanticism slowly give way to grotesque images of mechanised warfare and futile death. Reading those young men confronting the reality of the trenches is deeply affecting.

I appreciated encountering poems I recognised alongside unfamiliar works by poets I already knew. The anthology works both as an introduction and as a way of deepening existing knowledge of the period.

If I have one criticism, it’s that I would have liked a more substantial introduction or concluding essay. And, the anthology clearly focuses on the major canonical figures, rather than diversity or rediscovery.

Read if you want a quick poetic interlude with lyrical highs and emotional lows.