The Muse in Arms The Muse in Arms is an anthology of British war poetry published in November 1917 during World War I . It consists of 131 poems by 52 contributors , with the poems divided into fourteen thematic sections . The poets were from all three branches of the armed services , land , sea and air , from a range of ranks ( though mostly officers ) and from many parts of the UK . Twenty of the poets who contributed to this volume died during the war . The editor was the journalist and author Edward Bolland Osborn ( 1867 – 1938 ) , and the book was printed in London by the publishers John Murray . This anthology was one of several collections of war poetry published in the UK during the war . It " achieved large sales " , and was reprinted in February 1918 . It has been referenced in several analyses of First World War poetry and has been described as " the most celebrated collection of the war years " . Contents . The anthology ' s title page describes the book as " A collection of war poems , for the most part written in the field of action , by seamen , soldiers , and flying men who are serving , or have served , in the Great War " . The dedication is to the journalist and " Times Literary Supplement " editor Bruce Lyttelton Richmond ( 1871 – 1964 ) . The first edition of the book contains 38 pages of prefatory material including publication details , the dedication , an introduction by the editor , acknowledgments ( several of the poems had been previously published ) , a list of 46 authors , and a list of contents . This is followed by 131 poems over 295 pages . Eight of the 131 poems are by civilian or anonymous authors , some referenced by name or pseudonym and others only by their initials , bringing the total number of contributors to 52 . Osborn ' s introduction discusses several aspects of the collection and includes a quote from Pericles when considering the cost of the war against the poetry produced : The book is divided into fourteen thematic sections : Poets . At the time of the anthology ' s publication in November 1917 , the death during the war of sixteen of the forty - six authors was marked in the list of authors with an asterisk , and are so - marked in the following list as well . The deaths during the war of four other authors who were killed or died following publication of the book , or whose deaths had occurred earlier but not been recorded by Osborn , are marked with a double asterisk . The military rank and unit given in the list of authors is also included in the list below . Selection of photographs of some of the poets and titles of their poems from " The Muse in Arms " : Poetry . The poems that mention wartime places , battles , people and events include : The opening lines of ' To the Poet Before Battle ' by Ivor Gurney , who would survive the war : Lines from ' Better Far to Pass Away ' by Richard Molesworth Dennys , who was killed during the war : Reception . " The Muse in Arms " has been described as one of several " important anthologies in the canonization of poetic taste " , including work by Siegfried Sassoon and Rupert Brooke . While other major war poets such as Wilfred Owen and Isaac Rosenberg are absent from the book , the collection has also been noted for its inclusion of poems by " servicemen who perished during wartime and whose literary output was strictly limited " . The collection was published at the point in the war where there was a shift from " patriotism and romanticism " to a more realistic verse that reflected the " brutal reality " of trench wafare , answering " to a public demand , particularly strong during the period of the great battles of 1915 - 17 , for poetry from the trenches " . The introduction by Osborn has been described as articulating the " appallingly anachronistic concept of war as a game " . In his 2007 work , Sillars draws further attention to the imagery used in the introduction by Osborn , and concludes that " The Muse in Arms " and similar anthologies of that period of the war used poetry to locate the war " within a spiritual landscape that makes mystical the English countryside by endowing it with heroic virtues " . The symbolic meaning of the anthology and the works it contains has also been examined , with Haughton ( 2007 ) describing the title of the work as representing a " muse enlisted in the service of the State , Church and British Army " .