Arthur Graeme West (September, 1891 – 3 April 1917) was a British writer and

war poet War poetry is poetry on the topic of war. While the term is applied especially to works of the First World War, the term can be applied to poetry about any war, including Homer's ''Iliad'', from around the 8th century BC as well as poetry of th ...

. West was born in

Eaton, Norfolk Eaton is a suburb of the city of Norwich, in the Norwich district, in the county town of Norfolk, England. Anciently the superiority of manor of Eaton, and its lands, was held by the FitzAlan family who in the reign of King Henry 1st granted it ...

,Arthur Graeme West - WW1 Memorial and Life Story
Retrieved 2016-10-30. educated at

Highgate School Highgate School, formally Sir Roger Cholmeley's School at Highgate, is a co-educational, fee-charging, private day school, founded in 1565 in Highgate, London, England. It educates over 1,400 pupils in three sections – Highgate Pre-Preparato ...

, then

Blundell's School Blundell's School is an Private schools in the United Kingdom, independent co-educational boarding school, boarding and Day school, day school in the English Public School (United Kingdom), public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon, T ...

and

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

, and killed by a sniper in 1917.

Military service

West enlisted as a

Private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

with the Public Schools Battalion in January 1915. He joined from a feeling of duty and patriotism, but the war had a profound effect on him. An individualist who hated routine and distrusted discipline, he developed an intense abhorrence to army life and began to question the very core of his beliefs – in religion, patriotism and the reason for war. This growing disillusionment found expression in two particularly powerful war poems he wrote during this time: "God, How I Hate You" and "Night Patrol". In his diary he describes reading

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...

's writings on pacifism, which made a great impression on him. In August 1916 he became a second lieutenant in the

Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry was a light infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1881 until 1958, serving in the Second Boer War, World War I and World War II. The regiment was formed as a consequence of th ...

. Shortly after, he wrote to his new battalion threatening to desert the army - but he could not bring himself to post the letter. Less than a year later, on 3 April 1917, he was shot dead by a sniper's bullet near

Bapaume Bapaume (original Dutch name Batpalmen) is a Communes of France, commune in the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department in the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region of northern France. Geography Bapaume is a farming and light indus ...

Writing

West is principally known for one book, ''The Diary of a Dead Officer'' (1919), which presents a scathing picture of army life and a vivid account of daily life in the trenches. The book was published posthumously and edited by

C. E. M. Joad Cyril Edwin Mitchinson Joad (12 August 1891 – 9 April 1953) was an English philosopher, author, teacher and broadcasting personality. He appeared on ''The Brains Trust'', a BBC Radio wartime discussion programme. He popularised philosophy and ...

, an Oxford colleague of West's and an active pacifist (and contemporary of West's at Blundell's). It was reissued in 1991 by the

Imperial War Museum The Imperial War Museum (IWM), currently branded "Imperial War Museums", is a British national museum. It is headquartered in London, with five branches in England. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, it was intended to record the civ ...

and published again by Greenhill Books in 2007 with an introduction by Nigel Jones. The first edition of the book consisted of an introduction by Joad, extracts from West's 1915-17 diary, and several essays and poems. Joad edited the book as pacifist propaganda and it was published jointly by the left-wing Herald newspaper and Sir Francis Meynell's Pelican Press (Meynell's other publications had included Sassoon's protest in 1917). Jones' edition does not include Joad's introduction.

Bibliography

Santanu Das Santanu Das is an Indian born academic and author, best known for his work on the World War I in literature, literature of the First World War. Since 2019, he has been Professor of Modern Literature and Culture at University of Oxford, Oxford ...

(2005)
''Touch and Intimacy in First World War Literature.''
Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

. *Cyril Joad (2007), ''The Diary of a Dead Officer: Being the Posthumous Papers of Arthur Graeme West'' (Greenhill Books), ; *Dennis Welland, ''Arthur Graeme West: a messenger to Job'', Renaissance and Modern Studies, ed. G.R. Hibberd (1966). *Samuel Hynes, ''An introduction to Graeme West'', English Literature of the First World War Revisited eries ed. M. Roucoux (Amiens, 1989).

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:West, Arthur Graeme 1891 births 1917 deaths People educated at Highgate School People educated at Blundell's School Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford British World War I poets 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English poets British military personnel killed in World War I British Army personnel of World War I Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry officers People from Norwich (district) English male poets Military personnel from Norwich Middlesex Regiment soldiers Royal Fusiliers soldiers