Poems of the Great War: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Poems of the Great War, credited to Various, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Poems of the Great War by Various. Read in English by Bruce Kachuk At a time when the need for courage and tenacity of the British people was at its peak, these poems published at the outset of the First World War emerged as an attempt to bolster the war effort and reinforce the determination of a people and a country under siege. Despite the fact that the war was to continue for another four dreary, deadly years, these poems - poems of hope, victory and a wished for peace - assisted a nation in peril to cope with the daily threat to its existence and helped remind the British people of the leaders they were in the fight for freedom and justice. Much praise is due this diverse band of inspirational poets who assumed the rallying cry of a nation whose liberty was under threat and took it upon themselves to unite and arouse a people's resistance against the developing perils that were befalling them. These are poets who knew there was a solution to the war's conundrum of escalating violence and that it lay through the issuance of a rallying cry for a great nation to uphold the rule of law and fight this new and fierce enemy - this enemy of peace-loving nations, an evil that would consume all in its path if permitted. This rallying cry, this plea, this decree, this appeal to the resistance that defined a nation and which would ultimately spell victory is eloquently articulated by Poet Laureate, Robert Bridges, as he commands, "Up, careless, awake! Ye peacemakers, fight! England stands for Honour: God defend the Right!" - Summary by Bruce Kachuk

Recording facts

• Recording title: Poems of the Great War
• Author credits: Various
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 18
• Listed recording duration: 42:34

Catalogue topics

• Europe
• Britain
• First World War
• preparedness
• courage
• honour
• unity
• wartime poetry

Track guide

1. 01 - Duty — 0:44
2. 02 - "Wake up, England" — 1:41
3. 03 - The Vigil — 2:13
4. 04 - To the Troubler of the World — 1:26
5. 05 - To England: To Strike Quickly — 1:20
6. 06 - The Fourth of August — 2:08
7. 07 - The United Front — 3:36
8. 08 - England to the Sea — 3:31
9. 09 - The Hour — 2:06
10. 10 - The Wife of Flanders — 2:32
11. 11 - The Stars in their Courses — 6:17
12. 12 - Commandeered — 0:56
13. 13 - The Man who Keeps his Head — 2:35
14. 14 - France — 1:54
15. 15 - We Willed it Not — 2:31
16. 16 - Pro Patria — 2:57
17. 17 - Hymn before Action — 2:41
18. 18 - Hymn in War Time — 1:26

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.