Ivor Bertie Gurney was born in Gloucester on 28th August 1890. A chorister at Gloucester cathedral Ivor began to compose music at 14 before winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy Of Music in 1911. Noted for his enormous potential he was equally thought by many to be un-teachable. His studies were interrupted by World War I and his enlistment with the Gloucestershire Regiment. He was wounded in April 1917 and gassed a few months later. After his release from hospital he was posted to Sea...

A creeper-covered house, an orchard near; A farmyard with tall ricks upstanding clear In golden sunlight of a late September.——How little of a whole world to remember! How slight a thing to keep a spirit free! Within the house were books, A piano, dear to me, And round the house the rooks Haunted each tall elm tree; Each sunset crying, calling, clamouring aloud. And friends lived there of whom the house was proud, Sheltering with content from wind and storm, Them loving gathered at the hea...

This book stands dedicated to one only of my friends, but there are many others to whom I would willingly dedicate singly and in state, if that did not mean the writing of forty books of verse and dedications—a terrible thing for all concerned. So that, under the single name and sign of homage and affection, I would desire such readers as come to me to add also: To my father and mother; F. W. Harvey (also a Gloucestershire lad); Miss Marion Scott, whose criticism has been so useful, and sh...

Ivor Bertie Gurney was born in Gloucester on 28th August 1890. A chorister at Gloucester cathedral Ivor began to compose music at 14 before winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in 1911. Noted for his enormous potential he was equally thought by many to be un-teachable.His studies were interrupted by World War I and his enlistment with the Gloucestershire Regiment. He was wounded in April 1917. He returned to duty but was gassed a few months later. After his release f...

First published in 1978 The Ordeal of Ivor Gurney is a moving and extraordinary account of a tragic genius penned by the composer Michael Hurd. Born in Gloucester in 1890 Ivor Gurney began writing songs and poems in his teens, taking his inspiration from the Severn Valley countryside where he grew up. Sent to the Western Front during the First World War Gurney experienced desolation and horror that made a profound impression on him. He ended his days in an asylum, but at his death in 1937 ...

This dual biography of Ivor Gurney and Marion Scott tells the dramatic story of two geniuses who met at the Royal College of Music in 1911 and formed an unlikely partnership that illuminated and enriched the musical and literary worlds in which they moved. Gurney's poetry and songs have taken their place as part of the inheritance of England. Scott, Gurney's strongest advocate, emerges from his shadow for the first time. Her own remarkable achievements as a pioneering music critic, musicol...

Archipelago is one of the most important and influential literary magazines of the lasttwenty years. Running to twelve editions, it was edited by Andrew McNeillie, with theassistance later of James McDonald Lockhart, and began as an attempt to reimagine therelationships between the islands of Ireland and Britain. Archipelago has brought togetherestablished and emerging artists in creative conversations that have transformed the studyof islands, coasts and...

War may be rationalized as ‘diplomacy by other means’ but the reality is that when tribes, Nations and peoples bring themselves into armed conflict with one another mayhem, terror and slaughter are the result.In the First World War, The Great War, The War to End all Wars any idealistic aims that it was a ‘just cause’ and would be all over in a few months were shattered against the vast scale of millions dead or wounded all, for the often temporary gains of a few miles of shell-pock...

Beautifully curated, The Poetry of World War One is a stunning collection of verse from some of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. Whether fighting on the frontline themselves or observing the destruction of the Great War from home, these poets capture the horrors of the trenches, the fragility of life itself and the resilience of the human spirit in haunting detail.As devastating as it is hopeful, this collection provides a poignant and evocat...

In England the Victorian Age was about to become the past and a new age of worldwide wars of horror and slaughter would envelop and decimate generations, forever staining mankind.The Century would see the World discover strengths. The Democracies would stand firm against Fascism and later Communism yet still keep its own elite and privileged in power and the rest of us underfoot.The World was more connected than ever before. Culture accelerated its kaleidoscopic and interwo...

The language of Poetry is an art that most of us attempt at some point in our lives. Although its commonplace exposure has been somewhat marginalised in today’s often fast-paced lives we all recognise good verse that can empathise with our thoughts or open us up to experience new things in new ways, to better understand and to enjoy the many strands of our lives.But finding a starting point can be overwhelming, even off-putting, so in this series we offer up our Top 10 classic poet...

The language of Poetry is an art that most of us attempt at some point in our lives. Although its commonplace exposure has been somewhat marginalised in today’s often fast-paced lives we all recognise good verse that can empathise with our thoughts or open us up to experience new things in new ways, to better understand and to enjoy the many strands of our lives.But finding a starting point can be overwhelming, even off-putting, so in this series we offer up our Top 10 classic poet...