Talk by Dr. Jean Moorcroft Wilson and Max Egremont at the Imperial War Museum, 9th November 2013 14.30

Now for something a little different:  Dr. Jean Moorcroft is the world authority on WW1 poets and she is giving a talk, together with Max Egremont on 9th November 2013 at the Imperial War Museum.   For those interested in WW1 poetry this is a must:

Isaac Rosenberg:   From ‘Break of Day in the Trenches’ to the German Spring Offensive 1918

IRSAC & IWM London present
 Jean Moorcroft Wilson & Max Egremont
Saturday 9 November 2013 at 2.30 p.m.
The Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London SE1 6HZ

Max Egremont

 THE LAST THROW – THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE MARCH 1918

In the war’s last years, there was a transformation, from Haig’s spring message that the British had their ‘backs to the wall’ to August 8 when Ludendorff spoke of ‘the black day of the German army’. Did the startling first successes of that spring bring the Allies near  to defeat? Was it a humiliation in particular for the British? Or were the attacks doomed before they began, as American troops started to come across and the Central Powers faced economic pressure and crumbling morale?

Jean Moorcroft Wilson

‘THROUGH THESE PALE COLD DAYS’ TO ROSENBERG’S DEATH

When the poet Isaac Rosenberg enlisted in the British Army in October 1915 it was not, he insisted, ‘for patriotic reasons’. And his experiences as a private at the Front in France, from June 1916 to his death there during the German Spring Offensive of 1918 did little to change his mind. It did, however, have a profound effect on his poetry, which gives eloquent voice to the ‘poor bloody Tommy’ and is among the greatest of the First World War. With originality of  language, thought and technique he penned some of the most devastating, yet humane words about front-line experience ever written.

Tickets £10 - available from IWM London 01223 449 353 or www.iwm.org.uk     

Enquiries: tel. 020 7387 2394.

Don't forget the Isaac Rosenberg Statue Appeal - details on www.jeecs.org.uk/rosenberg.html