On this day...

British novelist, poet and critic Ford Madox Ford was born in 1873. Born Ford Hermann Heuffer, he changed his name in 1919, due to unpopular German connotations following the First World War. War proved a continuous theme in Ford's life; he worked for the War Propaganda Bureau, producing two books and afterwards enlisted in the Welsh Regiment. The theme, not surprisingly, also ran through his literature, and inspired his most famous work, 'The Good Soldier'. The novel, originally called 'The Saddest Story' was supposedly started on Ford's birthday, to 'show what [he] could do'. Critics have praised the work, calling it, 'the best French novel in the English language' and Ford, 'one of the dozen greatest novelists of the century'. Ford is also known for his journalistic achievements. He founded both 'The English Review' and 'The Transatlantic Review'; publishing authors such as Thomas Hardy, Henry James and Joseph Conrad, and giving a publishing debut to D.H. Lawrence. Ford is supposedly the model for Braddocks in Hemingway's 'The Sun Also Rises'.

On this day...

The famous war poet, Wilfred Owen died in action in 1918 at the age of 25; just one week before the war ended. His poems are known for their realism, as can be achieved only by one serving in the trenches as Owen did. Incorporating images such as 'the cautery of battle' and 'the blood had clogged their chariot wheels', Owen provides a great contrast to the patriotic poems of Rupert Brooke. Brooke, author of the lines 'there's some corner of a foreign field/That is forever England', never served in war and so, whilst his poetry was equally successful, it lacked the harsh truth and rugged images contained in Owen's. Owen's most famous works include 'Dulce et Decorum Est', and 'Anthem for Doomed Youth', yet only five of his poems were published in his lifetime.

Inspirations of Balklava...

This day also saw the 1854 Crimean War battle in Balaklava, during which 250 men were killed or wounded and 400 horses were lost. When Alfred Lord Tennyson read a report of the incident, in The Times five weeks later, he wrote 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' , most famous for the lines: 'Theirs not to make reply/Theirs not to reason why/Theirs but to do and die'. Yet his interest in the Balaklavan soldiers did not stop there; some years later, a charity drive was undertaken to provide money to the surviors, many of whom were destitute. Tennyson wrote 'The Charge of the Heavy Brigade' to galvanise support, but much of the money raised was given by the politicians to other causes. This prompted Rudyard Kipling to write 'The Last of the Light Brigade', to reveal the scandal to the public.

Poets against war...

Following on from Levertov, poetry has been, and always will be, a method through which people protest against injustices in the world. From Mazisi Kunene, an anti-apartheid poet, to Siegfried Sassoon, famous for his satrical anti-war poetry, many have written to expose these situations to the public, attempting to counter apathy and rally people to their cause. Although many believe that this type of protest belongs to the 20th century, it is still being used today against the injustices of a modern society. The 'Poets Against War' society, contains contemporary poetry from members of the public about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, showing that everyone has the capacity to write, and anyone can change the world through it.

On this day...

Denise Levertov, a British-born American poet was born in 1923. Much of her work was published in the '60s and '70s and, as a consequence, centralised on political themes. She herself, held leftist ideals and was able to support these through her role as the poetry editor for the magazine 'The Nation'. The Vietnam War influenced her significantly, and in 1971, she published 'To Stay Alive', a book filled with anti-war letters, newscasts, diaries and her own poetry. One of her more famous poems is 'What Were They Like', focusing on the destruction of culture which war brings. She died in 1997 at the age of 73.