Collinson Library: POETRY of WORLD WAR 1: David Jones

Biography: David Jones

David Jones was born in the district of Brockley, on the southeast side of London (his mother's native place) in 1895. His father was a Welsh emigré to London, where he worked as a printer. Jones received little formal education aside from art school (at the Camberwell School of Art, 1909-14, and later the Westminster School of Art, 1919-21), but was extremely receptive from a young age and by his teens was familiar with Welsh mythology, as well as Latin and Old English poetry.
Eager to serve at the outbreak of the First World War, he was nonetheless rejected from two regiments before enlisting in the Royal Welch Fusiliers, with whom he fought from 1915-19 as a private and mostly in the trenches. The Great War crucially shaped his imagination and inspired his first poetic work, In Parenthesis, published in 1937, and hailed by T.S. Eliot as 'a work of genius.' He received similar approbation throughout his career from W.B. Yeats, W.H. Auden, Stephen Spender, Hugh McDiarmid, Kathleen Raine, R.S. Thomas, Evelyn Waugh, Seamus Heaney, Igor Stravinsky and many others.

eBook Preview: David Jones

David Jones: Engraver, Soldier, Painter, Poet By Thomas Dilworth (2017)

As a poet, visual artist and essayist, David Jones is one of the great Modernists. The variety of his gifts reminds us of Blake – though he is a better poet and a greater all-round artist. Jones was an extraordinary engraver, painter and creator of painted inscriptions, but he also belongs in the first rank of twentieth-century poets.

Related Websites

David Jones [First World War Poetry Archive] Contains biographical information as well as links to photographs and other content in The David Jones Collection at The National Library of Wales.
David Jones [Poetry Foundation] Long article that provides some biographical information and discusses his poems and the major influences in his life.
David Jones (1895-1974) [David Jones Society] Website fo the David Jones Society. Contains information about his life, art works, and links to online collections of his works, letters and writings.

Reviews and Critiques

"Private David Jones’s "In Parenthesis" and "The Anathemata" Review by Peter Salmon, published in the Cordite Poetry Review, writed about Jones's first and second great poems. Essay over 4 pages.
Review of "In Parenthesis" By Complete Review. Also contains links to other sources. Scroll to read the review.
Analysis: In Parenthesis, Pts 1-4. A detailed analysis and summary of the story of the poem. Although considered to be in the poetic tradition, the work mixes poetry and prose.
The Metamorphosis of David Jones Published by New Criterion (May 2018).
Essay: The Sacramental Poetry of David Jones This essay highlights the sacramental poetry of the British modernist poet and painter David Jones. It cites several comments from several individuals, including poet T. S. Eliot, on the excellence of his poem/novel "In Parenthesis." It mentions several reasons for the neglect of Jones' poetry such as the impenetrable nature of his verse. The essay also explores the connections between interwar literature and theology in Jones' works.
Article: Out of the Trenches - The Difficult Genius of David Jones The article features Anglo-Welsh poet, painters, and engraver David Jones. Jones reportedly have an artistic vision molded both by his soldiering at the Battle of the Somme and by his Catholic faith. His two poems, "In Parenthesis" and "The Anathemata," allegedly place Jones among the High Modernists.