Above the Dreamless Dead

Posted on 17 June 2017 by Chris Duffy

As the Great War dragged on and its catastrophic death toll mounted, a new artistic movement found its feet in the United Kingdom The Trench Poets, as they came to be called, were soldier poets dispatching their verse from the front lines Known for its rejection of war as a romantic or noble enterprise, and its plainspoken condemnation of the senseless bloodshed of war, Trench Poetry soon became one of the most significant literary moments of its decade The marriage of poetry and comics is a deeply fruitful combination, as evidenced by this collection In stark black and white, the words of the Trench Poets find dramatic expression and reinterpretation through the minds and pens of some of the greatest cartoonists working today.With New York Times bestselling editor Chris Duffy Nursery Rhyme Comics, Fairy Tale Comics at the helm, Above the Dreamless Dead is a moving and illuminating tribute to those who fought and died in World War I Twenty poems are interpreted in comics form by twenty of today s leading cartoonists, including Eddie Campbell, Kevin Huizenga, George Pratt, and many others. Read Above the Dreamless Dead – kino-fada.fr When our editor, Calista Brill, came into the office fired up about trench poetry, I had no idea what she was talking about Two and a half years later, I m so glad that I ve gotten the chance to learnabout this really fascinating category of writing poetry written from the trenches of World War I And...This year is the 100th anniversary of the Great War, the war to end all wars, ha And who of us knows much about it Jane Addams, once the most famous woman in America, was vilified for taking a position that the war could have been avoided, of course she was right, and she was later hollowly vindicated, in a way, by being award the Nobel Peace Prize If you are a student of literature, maybe especially British literature, you are aware of the trench poets of that war, those who wrote poems li This year is the 100th anniversary of the Great War, the war to end all wars, ha And who of us knows much about it Jane Addams, once the most famous woman in America, was vilified for taking a position that the war could have been avoided, of course she was right, and she was later hollowly vindicated, in a way, by being award the Nobel Peace Prize If you are a student of literature, maybe especially British literature, you are aware of the trench poets of that war, those who wrote poems literally out of the trenches Who are may favorites in this collection What I think...High school teachers, use this book I would have loved to use this when I taught history and English I went through a stage in my 20s when I read a lot of the World War I poets Sassoon and Brooke mostly But, whoa, this version rocks So easy to incorporate into the classroom In the introduction, Duffy notes that many Americans don t know much about World War I, and I agree Trench warfare was horrible and deadly shell shock was common, and soldiers ...World War I is a bit of a black hole for most people, both historically and literarily This brief and lovely collection edited by Chris Duffy sets about to shine a little light on those dark times, featuring twenty seven poems or songs by thirteen of the so called Trench Poets Each poem is interpreted by a cartoonist, only a couple of whom pull double duty, offering a fantastic spread of voices and images dealing with the three phases of the war the patriotic build up, the time spent in the t World War I is a bit of a black hole for most people, both historically and literarily This brief and lovely collection edited by Chris Duffy sets about to shine a little light on those dark times, fe...Above The Dreamless Dead is one of those books that is worth reading no matter the format, although I think that the physical copy is worth reading for the tactile experience.Read the rest of my review hereStarred review from SLJ Plus read my interview with George Pratt, here are various dates given as the first day of World War I, from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914, to the first shots fired by Austro Hungarian soldiers on July 28 to the August 4th declaration of war by the British Empire, signalling the truly world wide stretch of the conflict Whatever the case, there is no d Starred review from SLJ Plus read my interview with George Pratt, here are various dates given as the first day of World War I, from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914, to the first shots fired by Austro Hungarian soldiers on July 28 to the Au...3.75 I love poetry, definitely enjoy a good graphic novel and teach history, so I thought this was going to be right up my alley I did enjoy it, but I was surprised to realize that combining the poems with a graphic novel just didn t quite work for me The poems seemed disjointed as they were split up over different panels and the artwork really distracted me from the overall enjoyment of the poems I think I would have enjoyed it much better if each poem was completely intact and the graphic n 3.75 I love poetry, definitely enjoy a good graphic novel and teach history, so I thought this was going to be right up my alley I did enjoy it, but I was surprised to realize that combining the poems with a graphic novel just d...Editor Chris Duffy merges words and images in this unique look at World War I Poems from the soldiers, authors, and writers from that era are paired with a contemporary artist, tasked with illustrating the messages contained with While a unique experiment, the book s engaging premise is also its downfall Many of the poems are capable of generating their own mental imagery, yet they become bogged down under the weight of artistic interpretation This is especially the case with thecomple Editor Chris Duffy merges words and images in this unique look at World War I Poems from the soldiers, authors, and writers from that era are paired with a contemporary artist, tasked with illustrating the messages contained with While a unique experiment, the book s engaging premise is also its downfa...What a fantastic idea I would never have encountered most all of these WWI poems if not for this book, and some of them are really beautiful and will stick with me for a long time As with all anthologies, I liked some of the poem comic chapters here better than others, especially because there were so many elements that had to all come together here to make it work, but there were a handful that did this so well they took my breath away I especially loved that James Lloyd included a page of t What a fantastic idea I would never have encountered most all of these WWI poems if not for this book, and some of them are really beautiful and wil...Now I m not a big poetry reader and often manage to completely miss the point of such things but these poems and the illustrations that accompany them broke through that and brought the horrors, difficulties and humours of war clearly and vividly to mind The poems were written by the troops on the ground during the First World War as they were stuck in the trenches while the illustrations came later by those not there A point acknowledged in the introduction by Duffy but one that does not seem Now I m not a big poetry reader and often manage to completely miss the point of such things but these poems and the illustrations that accompany them broke through that and brought the horrors, difficulties and humours of war clearly an...

English
17 June 2017

Chris Duffy