Troubled by his complex sexuality, Monro was a tormented soul whose aim was to serve the cause of poetry. Hibberd's revealing and beautifully-written biography will help rescue Monro from the graveyard of literary history and claim for him the recognition he deserves. Poet and businessman, ascetic and alcoholic, socialist and reluctant soldier, twice-married yet homosexual, Harold Monro probably did more than anyone for poetry and poets in the period before and after the Great War, and yet his reward has been near oblivion. Aiming to encourage the poets of the future, he befriended, among many others, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound and the Imagists; Rupert Brooke and the Georgians; Marinetti the Futurist; Wilfred Owen and other war poets; and the noted women poets, Charlotte Mew and Amma Wickham.

'The book is a 'who's who' of everyone who wandered through the corridors of Georgian, Imagist and Modern poetry...You know this is a well-written biography because you turn the pages in haste, wanting to know what happened next, and you care about the main protagonists. The book is full of details that you won't have read elsewhere. Monro has been almost forgotten, except by those who take a special interest in this brief period of 20th century letters. Dominic's book should make it less likely that future generations will forget Monro's role in promoting poetry.' - Friends of Dymoch Poets Newsletter

'...absorbing...a gripping account of a man at war with himself...meticulously researched...combines clarity, compassion and an engaging dry humour.' - Sunday Times

'...beautifully written...just the right amount of sympathy and insight...Hibberd's ability to establish Monro as a seminal figure...is impressive.' - Choice (USA)

'...fascinating.' - Scotland on Sunday

Autorentext
DOMINIC HIBBERD'S publications include Owen the Poet, Wilfred Owen: The Last Year and, with John Onions, the anthology Poetry of the Great War. He has taught English at Manchester Grammar School, the universities of Exeter and Keele, Northwestern University, USA, and Peking Union University.

Inhalt
Acknowledgements List of Illustrations Introduction: Harold Monro 1897-1932 Inheritance Cambridge 1989-1902 Ireland 1902-1906 The Samurai 1906-1908 Pilgrimage to Freedom 1908-1909 The Mountain and the Tower 1909-1911 The Poetry Review 1912 The Poetry House Alida 1913-1914 War 1914-1916 Casualty 1916-1919 A New Start 1919-1920 Drink and Failure Racing You to Death 1921-1925 Great Russell Street 1926-1928 No Way Out 1929-1932 Legacies Appendices Sources and Notes Bibliography Index