Poet

Edmund Blunden

1896-1974

Edmund Blunden was born in London and was the oldest of nine siblings. In August 1915, Blunden was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Sussex Regiment and he served with them right up until the end of World War I. Although Blunden survived his time in the front line, he was mentally scarred from his experiences. In 1919 he took up a scholarship at Oxford and studied English Literature alongside Robert Graves. Hating University life, Blunden left a year after he started in order to pursue his literary career. Siegfried Sassoon was an early fan of his work and the two became friends. Blunden’s poetic output was prolific, winning him several awards and careers in his lifetime. On 11 November 1985, Blunden was among 16 fellow Great War poets commemorated on a slate stone in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey.

Readings

Pill Box read by Rupert Evans
© Copyright 2025 The Josephine Hart Poetry Foundation. A charity registered in England and Wales number 1145062.