SmartPass Audio Education Study Guide to War Poetry (Dramatised)

By: Mike Reeves

Narrated by: Full-Cast Drama

This educational drama captures the experiences of a young World War I soldier who was touched, inspired, and changed forever by war poetry. Through vivid readings and recollections, we examine the work of 16 poets.

Included are 30 full World War I poems and more.

©2002 SmartPass Ltd (P)2002 SmartPass Ltd

Critic reviews

"Impressive teaching aid." (SNIP Magazine)
"Superb! A totally brilliant way to revise." (Daily Express)
"A wealth of useful material." (Times Educational Supplement)

An Important Audiobook on World War I Poetry

If you could sum up SmartPass Audio Education Study Guide to War Poetry (Dramatised) in three words, what would they be?

sumptuous, deep, insightful

What was one of the most memorable moments of SmartPass Audio Education Study Guide to War Poetry (Dramatised)?

The entire SmartPass Audio Education Study Guide to War Poetry was chock full of memorable moments. While some reviewers found this guide useless, I found it essential. I enjoyed how they interwove poetry, storytelling, and drama so that the soldier poets could tell their own stories in their own words. This production helped me understand the cataclysmic nature of World War I and the soldier poets' raw and creative response to it. I am grateful that they left us this record of how the war was like. I am also grateful for the love and the reverence that the audiobook producer and actors showed to these men and their work. They and a cacophony of sound effects and voices brought the soldiers' stories to life.

Have you listened to any of Full-Cast Drama’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, I have listened to other Full-Cast performances in the form of SmartPass' production of Hamlet and Macbeth. War Poetry cannot top Shakespeare, but it came close in its beautiful production and deep analysis. I feel I am a richer, deeper, and more informed person after having listened to it.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

As I said before, all of the moments . . . the poems in the book . . . moved me. Hearing the soldiers' own words, their reports from the trenches, moved me by placing me there with them. If I were an English teacher, I would assign this audiobook over All Quiet on the Western Front in order to give students a broader understanding of the war. War Poetry does a better job of teaching because the language distills the horrors of war.

Any additional comments?

War Poetry is a great investment of time and money. Never before have I experienced a book on the pivotal moment of the twentieth century. The soldier poets were and still are on the cutting edge of all that followed. We owe a great depth of gratitude to them for their courage and creativity in speaking the truth about war.