EPISODE · Jul 7, 2025 · 12 MIN
Love and Death: War Elegies by Whitman, Owen, Douglas and more
from Close Readings · host London Review of Books
As long as there have been poets, they have been writing war elegies. In this episode, Mark and Seamus discuss responses to the American Civil War (Walt Whitman), both world wars (W.B. Yeats, Wilfred Owen, Rudyard Kipling, Keith Douglas) and the conflict in Northern Ireland (Michael Longley) to explore the way these very different poems share an ancient legacy. Spanning 160 years and energised by competing ideas of art and war, these soldiers, carers and civilians are united by a need that Mark and Seamus suggest is at the root of poetry, to memorialise the dead in words. Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe: Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://lrb.me/applecrld In other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/closereadingsld Poems discussed in this episode: Walt Whitman, ‘Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night’ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45478/vigil-strange-i-kept-on-the-field-one-night Wilfred Owen, ‘Futility’ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57283/futility-56d23aa2d4b57 Keith Douglas, ‘Vergissmeinnicht’ https://warpoets.org.uk/worldwar2/poem/vergissmeinnicht/ W.B. Yeats, ‘An Irish Airman foresees his Death’ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57311/an-irish-airman-foresees-his-death Michael Longley, ‘The Ice-Cream Man’ https://poetryarchive.org/poem/ice-cream-man/ Rudyard Kipling, ‘Epitaphs of the War’ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57409/epitaphs-of-the-war Further reading in the LRB: Ian Hamilton on Keith Douglas’s letters: https://lrb.me/ldwar1 Jonathan Bate on war poetry: https://lrb.me/ldwar2 Poems by Michael Longley published in the LRB: https://lrb.me/ldwar3 LRB Audiobooks Discover audiobooks from the LRB: https://lrb.me/audiobooksld Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What this episode covers
As long as there have been poets, they have been writing war elegies. In this episode, Mark and Seamus discuss responses to the American Civil War (Walt Whitman), both world wars (W.B. Yeats, Wilfred Owen, Rudyard Kipling, Keith Douglas) and the conflict in Northern Ireland (Michael Longley) to explore the way these very different poems share an ancient legacy. Spanning 160 years and energised by competing ideas of art and war, these soldiers, carers and civilians are united by a need that Mark and Seamus suggest is at the root of poetry, to memorialise the dead in words. Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe: Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://lrb.me/applecrld In other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/closereadingsld Poems discussed in this episode: Walt Whitman, ‘Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night’ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45478/vigil-strange-i-kept-on-the-field-one-night Wilfred Owen, ‘Futility’ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57283/futility-56d23aa2d4b57 Keith Douglas, ‘Vergissmeinnicht’ https://warpoets.org.uk/worldwar2/poem/vergissmeinnicht/ W.B. Yeats, ‘An Irish Airman foresees his Death’ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57311/an-irish-airman-foresees-his-death Michael Longley, ‘The Ice-Cream Man’ https://poetryarchive.org/poem/ice-cream-man/ Rudyard Kipling, ‘Epitaphs of the War’ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57409/epitaphs-of-the-war Further reading in the LRB: Ian Hamilton on Keith Douglas’s letters: https://lrb.me/ldwar1 Jonathan Bate on war poetry: https://lrb.me/ldwar2 Poems by Michael Longley published in the LRB: https://lrb.me/ldwar3 LRB Audiobooks Discover audiobooks from the LRB: https://lrb.me/audiobooksld Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Love and Death: War Elegies by Whitman, Owen, Douglas and more
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