Poems by Ivor Gurney (1890 - 1937)

Ivor Gurney was born in Gloucester. He began composing music while just into his teens and gained a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music in London. When World War I broke out, he volunteered to fight and joined the Gloucestershire Regiment. In 1917 he was wounded and later gassed. He wrote his first book of poems - Severn and Somme - while recuperating from his wounds. Much of his poetry is evocative of places, especially of the River Severn and his Gloucestershire home. Ivor Gurney spent the last 15 years of his life in a mental hospital.