War of Words: Soldier-Poets of the Somme

The 1916 Battle of the Somme remains the most famous battle of World War I, remembered for its bloodshed and its limited territorial gains. What is often overlooked, however, is the literary importance of the Somme: more writers and poets fought in it than in any other battle in history. Narrated by Michael Sheen, War of Words: Soldier-Poets of the Somme details the experiences of the poets and writers who served in the battle. The work of Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves, David Jones, Isaac Rosenberg and JRR Tolkien (who arrived at the Western Front with ambitions to be a poet) was informed and transformed by the battle. Taken together, their experiences allow us to see this dreadful historical event through multiple points of view. The film uses animation, documentary accounts, surviving artefacts, battalion war diaries and the landscape itself to reconnect this literature to the events that inspired it.

Cast

Michael Sheen Narrator (voice)

Peter Barton Himself - First World War Historian

Max Egremont Himself - Biographer, Siegfried Sassoon

Christophe Fricker Himself - Literary Historian

John Garth Himself - Author, Tolkien and the Great War

William Graves Himself - Son of Robert Graves

Jean Moorcroft Wilson Herself - Biographer, Siegfried Sassoon

Paul O'Prey Himself - Editor, Selected Poems: Robert Graves

Jonathon Riley Himself - Royal Welch Fusiliers

Jon Stallworthy Himself - Editor, The Oxford Book of War Poetry

Nigel Steel Himself - Principal Historian, Imperial War Museums

Michael Symmons Roberts Himself - Poet

Metadata from the source database.