Collected Poems

Ivor Gurney, P.J. Kavanagh

• Publisher: Fyfield Books
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781857547092
• eBook ISBN: 9781847779915
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Poetry
• Index: Literature

P.J. Kavanagh's 1982 edition of the Collected Poems established Ivor Gurney (1890-1937) as one of the most original poets of the early twentieth century. His experiences in the First World War and his love of his native Gloucestershire countryside were sources of a unique poetic voice: vigorous, lyrical and passionate. In this new, substantially revised edition, Gurney can be enjoyed in his entirety by a new generation of readers. The poems have been re-ordered to take into account new work on Gurney, the texts corrected from the archive and editorial material substantially revised, while retaining P.J. Kavanagh's extensive original introduction. To many readers, the 1982 edition was a revelation. Re-reading Gurney, writes P.J. Kavanagh, 'is to be reminded how miraculously good he can be: his celebration of the ordinary, his eye for detail, his musical ear that combines traditional rhythms with the unpredictable...'

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Epigraph
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Foreword to the New Edition
• Chronology
• Maps
• From Severn and Somme (1917)
• From War’s Embers (1919)
• 1917–c. 1919 Poems from letters; other early MSS and TSS
• c. 1920–1922 Poems originating in MS notebooks; other single MS or TS poems
• September 1922–1925 Poems written in asylums. From single MSS; TS and MS groups; boxes and late notebooks
• Appendix
• Editorial Note (1982, 2004)
• Notes to the Poems
• Abbreviations
• Glossary
• Index of Titles and First Lines
• About the Author
• Copyright