68363: The Crimson Notebook
Creators: name: Project Team, First World War Poetry Digital Archive
Publisher: name: University of Oxford
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 430304
subject: British history
classificationCode: 430308
subject: European history (excl. British, classical Greek and Roman)
classificationCode: 430316
subject: International history

description: A red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts | File description(s):Front cover of a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>Draft in pencil in Ivor Gurney's hand of England the Mother, being the last sonnet of the set that closes Severn &amp; Somme (1917). Found in a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney at Rouen and elsewhere in France during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>Draft in pencil in Ivor Gurney's hand. The latter part of England the Mother is on the left hand page. The right hand page contains the draft of a poem 'Written after reading ""The Hour glass""' - a play by W.B. Yeats. From a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>Drafts in pencil in Ivor Gurney's hand of the end of 'After reading "The Hour Glass"' and an unpublished poem also found in the typescript collection 'Songs from the Second Fifth', 'How strange it was to hear under the guns'. This poem may be related to another unpublished poem, 'April Anthem'. From a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>Drafts in pencil in Ivor Gurney's hand. This draft is a continuation of an unpublished poem which begins 'How strange it was to hear under the guns', from the preceding page. Part of the right hand page appears under the title 'April Anthem 'in the Black Seaton Delaval notebook, beginning at 'Now God, who stirs the resurrection'. From a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>From a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>Draft in pencil in Ivor Gurney's hand. Here titled 'Spring. 1917. Rouen.' The poem was included in a letter to Marion Scott on 24 May 1917 and published in Severn and Somme (1917) as 'Spring. Rouen, May 1917'. From a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems. The book contains extensive drafts of this poem.<br>Drafts in pencil in Ivor Gurney's hand. Here titled 'Spring. 1917. Rouen.' From a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>Draft in pencil in Ivor Gurney's hand. From a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>Draft in pencil in Ivor Gurney's hand of an unpublished poem. From a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>Draft in pencil in Ivor Gurney's hand. Published as 'Song at Morning' (Severn &amp; Somme, 1917). From a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>Drafts in pencil in Ivor Gurney's hand. The draft on the left hand page is part of Song at Morning; the right hand page contains a poem later titled 'Peace', sent to Marion Scott in a letter of 6 June 1917 (published Collected Letters, p.270). From a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>Drafts in pencil in Ivor Gurney's hand. The draft on the left hand page is a continuation of 'Song at Morning'. On the right hand side is visible the top of the following page, containing a draft of a poem later titled 'Peace'. From a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>Draft of the continuation of Song at Morning, in pencil in Ivor Gurney's hand. From a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>Blank pages from a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>Draft in pencil in Ivor Gurney's hand of a poem later included in War's Embers (1919). From a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>Drafts in pencil in Ivor Gurney's hand of a Rondel titled Strafe - a poem titled 'Strafe 2' when sent to Marion Scott on 11 June 1917, and on the right hand page a draft of an unpublished poem. From a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>Draft continuation in pencil in Ivor Gurney's hand of an unpublished poem. From a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>The right hand page contains a draft in pencil in Ivor Gurney's hand of Question and Answer, a poem sent to Marion Scott on 27 July 1917. The left hand page contains a draft of the end of 'Camps', published in War's Embers (1919). From a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>Drafts in pencil in Ivor Gurney's hand. The left hand page contains the draft of what was probably a seventh verse to Camps. The right hand page, although titled 'Strafe' contains an unrelated, unpublished poem. From a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>Drafts in pencil in Ivor Gurney's hand of two rondels sent to Marion Scott in a letter of 11 June 1917, the first of which was published in Severn &amp; Somme (1917). From a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>Drafts in pencil in Ivor Gurney's hand of four short poems/rondels: 'It seems incredible...' (unpublished); Strafe (sent as 'Strafe 1' to Marion Scott, 11 June 1917); 'If beauty were a mortal thing' (unpublished); Grub (later titled Paean when sent to Marion Scott). From a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>Notes in pencil in Ivor Gurney's hand. From a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>Drafts in pencil in Ivor Gurney's hand. From a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.<br>Rear cover of a red notebook inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters', used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and containing various notes and drafts of poems.