Muse of Fire: World War I as Seen Through the Lives of the Soldier Poets

The lives and legacies of the young British men known as the “war poets” of WWI are explored in this agile literary study from biographer Korda (Ulysses S. Grant). During the early 20th century, poetry retained mass appeal in addition to being one of the few forms of expression not hindered by wartime censorship. As a result, according to Korda, poets were able to capture both the early patriotic fervor and, later on, what Wilfred Owen called the grim “pity of war.” Korda focuses on six young poets—Rupert Brooke, Robert Graves, Owen, Isaac Rosenberg, Siegfried Sassoon, and Alan Seeger—most of whom were from privileged backgrounds and had connections to other notable figures, including Winston Churchill. Korda’s most comprehensive biographical sketch centers on the complicated but charming Brooke (1887–1915), whose reputation and poetry served as a recruitment tool, and who died from illness while serving. Korda’s narrative pulsates with fascinating background detail and harrowing wartime exploits, and the story flows sinuously along channels of literary influence as the poets mentor or otherwise inspire one other. Most compellingly, Korda teases out the overlapping relationship between youthful artistic passion and the mass production of populist propaganda, painting trench warfare poetry as a kind of Edwardian TikTok. It’s a sophisticated mix of literary and political history. Photos. Agent: Lynn Nesbit, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Apr.)