Poems.

BROOKE, Rupert.

Item Number: 136281

London: Sidgwick & Jackson, Ltd, 1911.

First edition of Brooke’s first book of poems which brought him immediate fame, one of only 500 copies printed. Octavo, original cloth with paper spine label. In near fine condition. Housed in a custom slipcase.

Brooke's first book of poems was an immediate success upon publication, establishing his reputation as one of the most popular and celebrated WWI poets. Brooke entered Cambridge in 1906 where he became a visible figure in English intellectual circles, becoming acquainted with Virginia Woolf, writer Lytton Strachey, economist John Maynard Keynes, and William Butler Yeats who described him as "the handsomest young man in England." Between his graduation from Cambridge in 1909 and the start of World War I in 1914, he became associated with the Georgian poets; whose verse reflected an idealistic preoccupation with rural, youthful motifs. Brooke enlisted at the outbreak of war in August 1914. He came to public attention as a war poet early the following year, when The Times Literary Supplement published two sonnets ("IV: The Dead" and "V: The Soldier") on March 11th; the latter was then read from the pulpit of St Paul's Cathedral on Easter Sunday. Brooke's most famous collection of poetry, containing all five sonnets, 1914 & Other Poems, was first published in May 1915 and, in testament to his popularity, ran to 11 further impressions that year and by June 1918 had reached its 24th impression; a process undoubtedly fueled through posthumous interest.