A Forgotten Anthology: Jacqueline Trotter's Valour and Vision: Poems of the War 1914–1918

Abstract

abstract:Divided into two parts, this article argues that Jacqueline Trotter's neglected anthology, Valour and Vision (1920, 1923), contains much of interest and significance. Assembled just after the 1918 Armistice, the eventual British canon of Great War poets had not yet emerged. Anthologies have been particularly influential for understanding the War from British perspectives, yet little attention has been given to how editors went to work. Letters in the Hugh Walpole Collection at the King's School, Canterbury, preserve letters to Trotter from the poets or their representatives. These throw new light on the canon and anthology formation. The article analyses and discusses the material in this archive for the first time. Divided into six sections, biographical details of Jacqueline Trotter are followed by sections on what the letters reveal about the chronological arrangement and choice of poems; the charitable aim and issues of copyright; setting poems in context; and contributors' own views on war poetry.