On Saturday 2 May Jean Moorcroft Wilson will lead a study day on the lives and work of writers in the First World War. 

Soldier Poets of the First World War Study Day on Saturday 2 May 11am-4pm Some of the most powerful literature to emerge from the First World War was written by those who fought in it. This is particularly true of the poetry of the period, with its changing attitudes towards the war. In this study day the approach to the subject will be broadly chronological, the dividing line being the Somme Battles from 1916 to 1917 which separates what might be called the first generation of war poets, including Rupert Brooke, Julian Grenfell and Charles Hamilton Sorley, from the second, including Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves and Edward Thomas, and the third, including Isaac Rosenberg and Wilfred Owen. The day will be divided into three sections accordingly, each of them introduced by a short talk from Jean, giving an outline of the period, some biographical and critical detail of selected poets from it and concluded by a class discussion of selected works by the poet concerned. Participants will not be asked to share written work, unless they choose to do so, but are encouraged to read the poems included on the hand-out which will be sent to them in advance. Each section will be accompanied by a powerpoint presentation. 

Jean is a biographer, academic and authority on Robert Graves, Siegfried Sassoon, Charles Sorley, Isaac Rosenberg and Edward Thomas. The day is also likely to touch on the work of Wilfred Owen, Julian Grenfell and Rupert Brooke. Robert Graves: From Great War Poet to Goodbye to All That  (1895-1929) was published in 2018 and Jean is working on the second volume of Graves’ life. Jean lectures at Birkbeck, University of London, and is an enthusiastic, engaging and amusing tutor.