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Ivor Gurney, The Poetry Of (Audiobook)
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Read by Richard Mitchley, Ghizela Rowe & Gideon Wagner (Unabridged: 1hr 10mins)

Ivor Bertie Gurney was born in Gloucester on 28th August 1890. A chorister at Gloucester cathedral Ivor began to compose music at 14 before winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in 1911.  Noted for his enormous potential he was equally thought by many to be un-teachable.

His studies were interrupted by World War I and his enlistment with the Gloucestershire Regiment. He was wounded in April 1917. He returned to duty but was gassed a few months later. After his release from hospital he was posted to Seaton Delaval, a mining village in Northumberland, where he wrote poems including 'Lying Awake In The Ward'.

His first volume of poetry, Severn and Somme, was published in November 1917, followed by War's Embers in 1919.

Unfortunately his life was blighted by bi-polar disorder which had developed from his mid-teens and culminated in his first major breakdown whilst still in uniform in 1918.  The trigger was a failed relationship with Annie Drummond.

After the war he seemed to thrive for a while but the bi-polar return with increasing severity in 1922 to the point where we was declared insane.  Although he continued to write poems and a few pieces of music he was to spend the next fifteen years of his life until his death in various mental hospitals.

Ivor Gurney died on 26th December 1937.

 

In this compilation - 

01 - The Poetry of Ivor Gurney - An Introduction
02 - To the Poet Before Battle by Ivor Gurney
03 - First Time In by Ivor Gurney
04 - Crucifix Corner by Ivor Gurney
05 - Sonnets 1917 - I - For England by Ivor Gurney
06 - Sonnets 1917 - II - Pain by Ivor Gurney
07 - Servitude by Ivor Gurney
08 - Sonnets 1917 - IV - Home-Sickness by Ivoer Gurney
09 - Sonnets 1917 - V - England the Mother by Ivor Gurney
10 - On Somme by Ivor Gurney
11 - Ballad of the Three Spectres by Ivor Gurney
12 - Serenade by Ivor Gurney
13 - The Silent One by Ivor Gurney
14 - The Target by Ivor Gurney
15 - The Escape by Ivor Gurney
16 - To Certain Comrades (E.S. and J.H.) by Ivor Gurney
17 - The Estaminet by Ivor Gurney
18 - Tobacco by Ivor Gurney
19 - Canadians by Ivor Gurney
20 - Photographs by Ivor Gurney
21 - Strange Hells by Ivor Gurney
22 - Moments by Ivor Gurney
23 - To England, A Note by Ivor Gurney
24 - I Saw England - July Night by Ivor Gurney
25 - Blighty by Ivor Gurney
26 - Strange Service by Ivor Gurney
27 - Requiem by Ivor Gurney
28 - Song and Pain by Ivor Gurney
29 - Old Times by Ivor Gurney
30 - Personages by Ivor Gurney
31 - Sonnet September 1922 by Ivor Gurney
32 - Time to Come by Ivor Gurney
33 - To His Love by Ivor Gurney
34 - London Dawn by Ivor Gurney
35 - The Road by Ivor Gurney
36 - Rainy Midnight by Ivor Gurney
37 - Soft Rain Beats Upon my Windows by Ivor Gurney
38 - Kilns by Ivor Gurney
39 - Of Cruelty by Ivor Gurney
40 - Daily by Ivor Gurney
41 - After Glow by Ivor Gurney
42 - Bach and the Sentry by Ivor Gurney
43 - Purple & Black by Ivor Gurney
44 - The Strong Thing by Ivor Gurny
45 - When I Am Covered by Ivor Gurney
46 - Poem For the End by Ivor Gurney