Selected Poems and Letters

‘Death could drop from the dark as easily as song - But song only dropped, Like a blind man’s dreams on the sand, By dangerous tides, Like a girl’s dark hair for she dreams no ruin lies there, Or her kisses where a serpent hides’ - from Returning, We Hear the Larks’ Selected Poems & Letters . Isaac Rosenberg’s poems, such as Dead Man’s Dump and Break of Day in the Trenches , have been included in every significant war anthology and have earned him a place in Poets’ Corner.He studied at the Slade School of Art at the same time as Stanley Spencer and Mark Gertler, showing great promise as a painter. His poverty, education and background made him an outsider, yet it was just that experience which equipped him to cope with the horror of war in the trenches: ‘I am determined that this war, with all its powers for devastation, shall not master my poeting.’ Inexplicably for such a major figure, Rosenberg’s work has been out of print for many years. In this Selected Poems and Letters , his biographer Jean Liddiard has made a substantial selection of his finest poems and most revealing letters, providing also an authoritative introduction and a detailed chronology.