Published July 12, 2010

Guest editor: Laura Marsh

We invited you to scour the ages for your poems in this ‘historical’ issue of YM. The results? Some unexpected and startling perspectives on the past. Alice Miller’s ‘Mata Hari’ describes the execution of a courtesan-turned-spy during the First World War in the first person. ‘Remembrance’ by Bex Hainsworth is haunted by the same war – but her poem about a shell-shocked veteran takes place long after the fighting has ceased. Hattie Grunewald goes further back in her poem, a sensual close-up on the ‘face that launched a thousand ships’ set in the Trojan War. Yet ‘history’ can be very recent too, as it is in the intense, personal memories recalled in some of the other poems in the issue.
 
As for articles and reviews – the theme took hold of these too. Louis MacNeice was more than just a footnote to his “illustrious pal W.H. Auden”, argues Ben Wilkinson. Meanwhile, Daniel Hitchens explains how John Donne worked with the conventions of his time in his love poems.

Don’t forget to look at Jack Underwood’s workshop, and try writing a poem on the theme of ‘Crash’ for the next issue of YM. Till then!