The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry

Edited with an introduction by George Walter, this anthology gathers First World War poetry from familiar names — Rupert Brooke, Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen — alongside less-anthologised writers such as Gilbert Frankau and Osbert Sitwell, poems by women on the home front, and anonymous soldiers' songs. Rather than grouping poets by name or reputation, the collection is arranged thematically to follow the war's course, from conscription and training through the fighting to its aftermath. Notes and biographical sketches accompany the poems, and Walter's introduction traces how the canon of war poetry has shifted since it was first anthologised.