Rosaleen Graves

I have just received a reply to the query I sent to The Red Cross Archives in London regarding Rosaleen Graves, sister of the WW1 soldier poet and writer Robert Graves.   Having read Rosaleen's poem "The Smells of Home", I was certain that Rosaleen was writing from first-hand experience.

Rosaleen volunteered as a VAD during the First World War.  She joined the service on 17th September 1915 and trained at a hospital in Chislehurst, Kent.   After service in hospitals in London, Rosaleen was posted on 25th November 1917 to No. 54 Hospital in France, which was in Wimereux.  She remained there until 14th March 1919.   After the war, Rosaleen trained as a doctor and worked as a GP in Devon.   The Imperial War Museum in London have a recording of Rosaleen talking about her wartime experiences.

No. 54 Hospital in Wimereux was one of the Base Hospitals known as "London General Hospital" and was in operation from July 1917 until May 1919.

You can find a comprehensive description of the Base Hospitals in France and elsewhere during the First World War, by following the link http://www.1914-1918.net/hospitals.htm

Rosaleen's poem "The Smells of Home" was first published in "The Spectator" on 30th November 1918 and  is included in "The Winter of the World Poems of the First World War", edited by Dominic Hibberd and John Onions, published by Constable and Robinson Ltd., London, 2007.

My grateful thanks to The Red Cross.

Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska - Polish (1891 - 1945)

During the First World War Poland did not exist as the country we know in the 21^st Century – back then, Poland was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

Maria was a poet, playwright and painter, known as the “queen of lyrical poetry” and “Poland’s Sappho”.

Maria was born Maria Kossak into a family of noble origin.  Both her parents were renowned, respected artists who painted military subjects.  Maria was educated privately at home and studied English, French and German, becoming fluent in all three languages.   She painted and wrote poetry from an early age.

In 1915, Maria married Wladyslaw Bzowski, an officer in the Austrian Army but the marriage did not last long and was annulled.

In 1919, Maria married Jan Pawlikowski, a writer, after which her literary career began in earnest.   Her first volume of poetry – “Blue Almonds” - was published in 1922.   By 1929 that marriage had also failed and was annulled.

In 1924, Maria began writing plays and published her second volume of poetry – “Pink Magic”,  which she illustrated herself.  In 1931 she married Stefan Jasnorzewski, an officer in the Polish Air Force.   Maria was awarded the Goldel Laurel of the Polish Academy of Literature in 1935 and the Cracow Literary Prize in 1937.

The couple moved to England at the beginning of the Second World War settling in Blackpool, Lancashire. Maria became seriously ill, had two operations in hospital in Manchester and died on 9^th July 1945.   She is buried at Chorlton cum Hardy Cemetery in Manchester and the headstone was funded by the Union of Polish Writers Abroad.

 Source:  Wikipedia   Photo from Google Images

Comment from Penelope Monkhouse, 18th February 2014:

“… it should be noted that only part (Galicia) of present Poland was in the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time of the First World War. Part was in the Russian Empire and another part in Prussia… Poland was divided up amongst the three powers in the late 18^th century.    At the congress of Vienna in 1815, Poland was reconstituted but remained under Russian administration until 1918.”

Penelope Monkhouse is a German-British scientist living in Schwetzingen in Germany and a granddaughter of the novelist, dramatist and literary critic Allan Monkhouse.

Literature of the early 20^th century is currently one of Penelope’s chief non-scientific interests and she is engaged on a comparative study of German and English poetry of this period.  Penelope also writes poetry of her own and translates poetry to and from German and English. 

List of people who helped during WW1, compiled by Laurence Binyon

While searching for information about one of the poets on my list, I came across this amazing book on Project Gutenberg:

http://www.archive.org/stream/fordauntlessfran00biny/fordauntlessfran00biny_djvu.txt

It is well worth a look.  At the end is a list of all the organisations involved and of the people who helped out.

This really brings home the scale of the help that was sent to the Western Front during First World War.

We will remember them all.

Nell Walden (1887 - 1975) - German

Nell Walden (1887 Karlskrona/Sweden – 1975 Bern), née Nell Roslund, was an artist and writer. She was the daughter of a pastor. The family moved to Landskrona in 1903.  Nell studied music in Lund, receiving her diploma as an organist in 1908. She studied German in Berlin until 1911  and met Herwarth Walden, the editor of Der Sturm.   The couple married the following year in London and travelled widely in Europe. 

Nell Walden then met Klee and Kandinsky, who encouraged her to paint. After The First World War broke out, Nell worked as a journalist and collected works of the “Sturm”-artists, Swedish art as well as African and Oceanic art. In 1916 she attended painting classes in the newly founded “Sturm”-art school and the following year exhibited for the first time. In 1923 she ended her work for Der Sturm and divorced Herwarth Walden. 

From 1932 Nell worked as a painter, poet, translator and art collector. Her second husband, the doctor Hans Hermann Heimann, who she married in 1926, was murdered by the Nazis.

In 1940, Nell married the Swiss teacher Hannes Urech. From 1944 the couple lived in Schinznach-Bad AG. In 1957 to celebrate her 70th birthday, Nell's paintings were shown in a special exhibition in Aarau and a volume of her pictures and poems was published, edited by Hannes Urech and Lothar Schreyer.

Hannes and Nell moved to a new house “Seehalde” in Seengen in 1962, where her husband died the following year. In her last years, Nell travelled to Israel and Ibiza. She is buried next to her third husband in Aarau.

Picture from Google Images - John Jon-And: Herwarth and Nell Walden

Information for this panel has been collected, translated and contributed by Penelope Monkhouse from Germany - my thanks to Penelope.

Penelope Monkhouse (*1952) is a German-British scientist living in Schwetzingen/Germany and is a granddaughter of the novelist, dramatist and literary critic Allan Monkhouse. Literature of the early 20^th  Century is currently one of her chief non-scientific interests and she is engaged on a comparative study of German and English poetry of this period.  Penelope also writes poetry of her own and translates poetry to and from German and English. 

Nadja Malacrida's poem to say "Thank you" to all the troops from other countries who came to help Britain during WW1

Nadja Malacrida is one of my favourite WW1 female poets.  Here is a poem she wrote at the end of the war to say farewell to all those who helped Britain in her hour of need:

"A Farewell"

To you who came and fought with us, who dared

The danger with us, dying as we died

For honour, right, and liberty, who bared

Your swords for righteousness and, by our side,

Watched that grim line grow thinner and retreat

Beneath the fierceness of our blows;  to all

Of you be thanks.   The Victory is sweet

Because we fought together, and the call

We answered was the same.   So now to you

Who leave our shores we say, "God speed and bless

Your homeward path," that in this one Adieu

Our English hearts true friendship may express.

by Nadja Malacrida from her anthology "The Full Heart" published in 1919 by Arthur L. Humphreys of Piccadilly, London.

With thanks to Professor Brian Murdoch of Stirling University for bringing the works of Nadja Malacrida to my attention.

DJ School, Stoke-on-Trent Commemorative events - launch 27th February 2014

Interested members of the public, historians and fellow poets are invited to this event to launch the Remembrance Poet Project, featuring:

Guest Speaker: Jonathan Dale from the Western Front Association.

Celebration buffet and performances from local young poets ..

Further details from :
http://djschoolstoke.blogspot.com/2014/02/throughout-this-yearto-commemorate.html

Welcome to DJ School

djschoolstoke.blogspot.com

Jessie Pope

Jessie Pope (1868 - 1941) is, of course, on my ever-growing list of Female Poets of the First World War.

Initially I supposed that Jessie was very famous and therefore did not need me to add my 'twopennyworth'.   However, I recently contacted the North London Collegiate School about another poet and discovered so much more about Jessie Pope, a former pupil of the NLCS, than I knew before - so I felt I ought to speak up.

I have spent the weekend researching Jessie by reading all of the fascinating articles so kindly sent to me by the Librarian at the North London Collegiate School - for which I am extremely grateful.

I came to the conclusion that in today's rather hyper-critical climate, Jessie has been very much misunderstood.   Most people will be aware that Jessie is the 'my friend' referred to by Wilfred Owen in his now famous poem "Dulce et Decorum est" but how many people know that Wilfred did in fact cross out her name and any mention of "a certain Poetess" from later drafts he made of the poem?

Jessie was born in Leicester, UK on 18th March 1868. When the First World War broke out in 1914, Jessie would have been 46 years old.  She was already a famous writer and an established and published poet, loved for her humorous verse, with fans all over the world.   She was also a journalist contributing regularly to "The Daily Mail" and "Punch", both of which Wilfred Owen read regularly according to his published letters.   Wilfred, on the other hand, was aged 20 and working in France as a tutor.  At that time none of Wilfred's poems had been published.   

The most famous male soldier war poet during the First World War was arguably Rupert Brooke, although at the time, it seems that Robert Nichols felt he should have that title (see Cecil Roberts, pp 214 - 216).   Jessie carried on doing what she had always done - writing verse that has been described as 'jingoistic'  but which was aimed at keeping up the morale of a country that feared for its future.   The last months of 1914 were definitely not the time for criticism or defeatist talk, with the terrible loss of life, large numbers of wounded and the defeats and retreats the Army in France had suffered, followed by the bombardment of the east-coast towns Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby just before Christmas.   Jessie's particular brand of patriotic, rather light-hearted verse was therefore very popular, with one soldier writing to the "Daily Mail" to ask for a copy of one of her poems to be sent to his wife to cheer her up.

Jessie volunteered to work at the home for soldiers blinded in the conflict - St. Dunstan's in London - which was opened in 1915.   She wrote about the incredibly good humour of the soldiers learning to live normal lives in spite of their disability.   She continued writing at that time too and published several volumes of patriotic verse during the war years.

This has been an extremely useful lesson - never judge anything without doing your very best to find out all the facts.

With many thanks to the staff of the Library of the North London Collegiate School, one of the first schools for girls, which was set up in 1850 by Frances Mary Buss and used as a model for the education of girls in the rest of Britain.

For further details, please see their website - www.nlcs.org.uk

"The Years of Promise" by Cecil Roberts (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1968)  Roberts met Nichols in the Poetry Bookshop in London.