This Thing of Memory

"This book is not about First World War Poets. Others may choose to revere them.

Nor is it about mud, blood and poppycock, nor anything to do with Sassoon, Owen, Rosenberg, Gurney or Graves, except in commemoration.

More than anything, I am not concerned with poets, or their war.

My subject is the marking of the centenary and the way in which we experience it.

All a poet can do today is remember."



This Thing of Memory is a new volume of poems by David Hynes, examining the impact of the First World War; its imprint on our memory and conscience, both personal and collective, and the experience of the centenary commemorations: a unique event for each generation.

The poems contained in this collection enact a subtle kind of magic, offering a fresh perspective at every turn. From the tragic to the humorous; the original to the vaguely familiar, these verses are as individual as the people reading them, and the people being remembered within their lines.