Edmund Blunden

Carol Acton (University of Waterloo)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Birmingham Newman University), Louise McDonald (Birmingham Newman University), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Dates

Born 1 Nov 1896
Died 20 Jan 1974
Activity 1916-1968

Places

Born in England
Active in England; France; Japan

Activities

Primary

Autobiographer
Biographer
Editor
Essayist
Lecturer
Literary Critic/ Historian
Poet
Scholar

Other

Soldier

Resources

Blunden's Works

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Edmund Blunden, poet, prose writer and editor, is best known for

Undertones of War

(1928), his memoir of his experiences as a young officer on the Western Front during the First World War. Blunden is also known for his war poetry and for his pastoral poetry that celebrates the English countryside and English village life. He was a prolific literary editor and biographer, as well as Professor, Fellow and Tutor of English in Tokyo, Oxford and Hong Kong.

Blunden was born in London, England on the 1st November 1896, a date which meant that his writing and life would inevitably be linked with the Great War. He was the first child of Charles Edmund and Georgina Blunden. In 1900 the family moved to Yalding in Kent when his father was appointed headmaster of its Church of England primary school.

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2371 words

Citation: Acton, Carol. "Edmund Blunden". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 April 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=455, accessed 18 December 2024.]