The first substantial collection of French poetry of the First World War translated into English. It is astonishing that for almost a century the English-speaking world has been unaware of the huge, varied and powerful body of French poetry of that war. The poets, men and many women, mainly unknown to British readers, reveal the varied but highly charged responses of French soldiers and civilians to the ordeal of the war. This moving and wide-ranging record of France's tragic experience will endure as a fitting memorial to stand alongside the great British poetry of the First World War.