Use of above image of HMS Vanguard by kind permission from Orkney Library & Archive
Great War at Sea Poetry Project now has a website at http://greatwaratseapoetry.weebly.com/
Pages have been added about HMS Vanguard, Editha Jenkinson, poetry written to commemorate Lord Kitchener's death on aboard HMS Hampshire on 5th June 1916, the Battle of Jutland, war poetry generally.
Future topics include poetry about troopships, Wilfred Owen's view of sailors, and more 'Great War at Sea Poetry'.
I am working on a longer project provisionally titled 'Hilton-Young's Cigar ' which will look at Ltn. Edward Hilton-Young's one poetry anthology 'A Muse at Sea' published in 1919. Hilton-Young (20th March 1879 -11th July 1960) served aboard HMS Iron Duke and HMS Vindictive at the time of the 23rd April 1918 Zeebrugge Raid.
Here's an attempt to describe the Great War at Sea Poetry Project
The Great War at Sea Poetry aims to encourage research into the sea as a setting for war poetry of this era written by combatants and non-combatants alike. Looking at contemporary anthologies, war at sea poetry was published during the Great War but became marginalised and neglected in later years.
Whether this was due to the sea becoming less of a source of inspiration for poetry, or how categories such as ‘war poets’ and ‘war poetry’ have been constructed, remains an open question. Wider connections between ‘Great War at Sea Poetry’ with ballads and other verse forms have become apparent, particularly in the work of such poets as Cicely Fox Smith.
There is no attempt to create a category of ‘Sailor Poets’ or to claim that sea poetry reveals some hidden historical truth about the nature of Naval conflict , and reading poetry is not a viewed as a substitute for historical research into the ‘Great War at Sea’.
It is hoped to get an anthology of ‘Great War at Sea Poetry ‘ published to commemorate the centenary of Jutland in 2016.
