A Wartime Poetry Journal By Effie M Roberts

Wartime recollections
Review the Gerry(TheMole)

Written throughout the war by Effie M Roberts, these poems tell of her mood and reactions to events during the war. She reflects on the sadness the war brought, the hardships and the people.

Effie was not a natural poet and much is simple rhyming poetry with the rhyme all too predictable. During the writing of the journal over the course of the war you can see an improvement in her style but still not ending in anything to challenge the poet laureate. But is this important? Arguably not. Today these poems could be considered as part of the 'mass observation' project that was done before, during and after the war although they are not officially part of it. Much of the 'mass observation' project was written with an adult readership in mind, as daily diaries. This can make it very useful for historians but stuffy for the younger reader. Effie's poems, while being simple rhyming poems, are the nature of poem that can appeal to children and with the second world war being very much a curriculum item, then these poems can make a small part of that history more accessible.

TheMole's review - 3 stars

Publisher - Fractal Publishing

Genre - unsure

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