[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ custom_padding_last_edited=”off|desktop” admin_label=”Page Header” _builder_version=”4.9.3″ background_enable_color=”off” use_background_color_gradient=”on” background_color_gradient_start=”rgba(255,244,201,0.95)” background_color_gradient_end=”#fff4c9″ background_color_gradient_start_position=”94%” background_color_gradient_overlays_image=”on” background_image=”https:\/\/edmundblunden.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Study-scaled.jpg” custom_padding=”30px||27px|||” custom_padding_tablet=”0vw||” custom_padding_phone=”0vw||” locked=”off”][et_pb_row custom_padding_last_edited=”off|desktop” _builder_version=”3.25″ max_width=”80%” custom_margin=”||” custom_padding=”27px|0px|0|0px|false|false” custom_padding_tablet=”||40px|0%” use_custom_width=”on” width_unit=”off”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.3″ text_font=”||||||||” header_font=”||||||||” header_font_size=”4vw” header_line_height=”1.2em” header_2_font=”||||||||” header_3_font=”|||on|||||” header_3_font_size=”12px” header_3_letter_spacing=”10px” header_3_line_height=”2.4em” header_4_font=”|||on|||||” header_4_text_color=”rgba(34,34,34,0.4)” header_4_font_size=”23px” header_4_letter_spacing=”8px” header_4_line_height=”1.6em” max_width=”80%” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”right” animation_duration=”2000ms” animation_intensity_slide=”2%” header_font_size_tablet=”45px” header_font_size_phone=”21px” header_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” header_3_font_size_tablet=”10px” header_3_font_size_phone=”10px” header_3_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” header_3_letter_spacing_tablet=”” header_3_letter_spacing_phone=”3px” header_3_letter_spacing_last_edited=”on|desktop” header_4_font_size_tablet=”” header_4_font_size_phone=”14px” header_4_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” header_4_letter_spacing_tablet=”” header_4_letter_spacing_phone=”3px” header_4_letter_spacing_last_edited=”on|phone”]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”About” _builder_version=”4.9.3″ background_color=”RGBA(0,0,0,0)” width=”95%” custom_margin=”0vw||||false|false” custom_padding=”35px|||||” locked=”off”][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_5,3_5″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”||14px|||”][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/edmundblunden.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/5.jpg” alt=”Church” title_text=”Church” _builder_version=”4.9.3″ max_width_tablet=”400px” max_width_phone=”” max_width_last_edited=”on|tablet” module_alignment=”left” custom_margin=”||4px|||” custom_margin_tablet=”0px|||” custom_margin_last_edited=”off|phone” locked=”off”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.3″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#000000″ background_color=”#C7E78B” text_orientation=”center”]<\/p>\n
Ypres, Cloth Hall and church destroyed by war<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.3″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Blunden\u2019s experience as a soldier in the First World War had a lasting influence on his poetry.<\/p>\n Across the breadth of his work the war surfaces again and again. His poems linked to the Second World War arose from his foreboding about a repetition of the horrors of the First.\u00a0<\/span>Overtones of War<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>is a collection of his war poetry edited by Martin Taylor and published by Duckworth in 1996.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.9.3″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.9.3″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.3″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#81AE64″]<\/p>\n CONCERT PARTY BUSSEBOOM<\/p>\n The stage was set, the house was packed, EB\u2019s note: 47 th Division Revue. That was as it actually happened, on an early<\/span> spring morning in 1917<\/span>,<\/span> \u2013 the 47 th Division I think gave the Revue, in a large hut<\/span> not far from Vlamertinghe.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.9.3″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.3″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#81AE64″]<\/p>\n TO WILFRED OWEN Where does your spirit walk, kind soldier, now, Edmund Blunden 1940<\/p>\n Published: [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" World War 1 & World War 2Ypres, Cloth Hall and church destroyed by warBlunden\u2019s experience as a soldier in the First World War had a lasting influence on his poetry. Across the breadth of his work the war surfaces again and again. His poems linked to the Second World War arose from his foreboding about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmundblunden.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/408"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmundblunden.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmundblunden.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmundblunden.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edmundblunden.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/edmundblunden.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":563,"href":"https:\/\/edmundblunden.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/408\/revisions\/563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edmundblunden.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
The famous troop began;
Our laughter thundered, act by act;
Time light as sunbeams ran.
Dance sprang and spun and neared and fled,
Jest chirped at gayest pitch,
Rhythm dazzled, action sped
Most comically rich.
With generals and lame privates both
Such charms worked wonders, till
The show was over \u2013 lagging loth
We faced the sunset chill;
And standing on the sandy way,
With the cracked church peering past,
We heard another matinee,
We heard the maniac blast
Of barrage south by Saint Eloi,
And the red lights flaming there
Called madness: Come, my bonny boy,
And dance to the latest air.
To this new concert, white we stood;
Cold certainty held our breath;
While men in the tunnels below Larch Wood
Were kicking men to death.<\/p>\n
Killed in action November 4 th , 1918<\/p>\n
In this deep winter, bright with ready guns?
And have you found new poems in this war?
Some would more wish you, with untroubled brow,
Perpetual sleep, which you perhaps wished once \u2013
To unknow this swift return of all you bore.
And yet, if ever in the scheme of things
Past men have leave to see the world they loved,
This night you crossed the lines, for a second seen
By worried sentries. In vast tunnellings
You track the working-party; by the gloved
Wire-sergeant stand; look in at the canteen;
And I, dream-following you, reading your eyes,
Your veteran youthful eyes, discover fair
Some further hope, which did not formerly rise.
Smiling you fade, the future meets you there.<\/p>\n
The Cherwell, Vol. 58, No. 3, 3 Feb. 1940
Augury, 27 April 1940<\/p>\n