Ten Poems

Alice Meynell's poems move with musical grace from the dawn song of a thrush to meditations on war, memory, nature, and faith. In these luminous lyrics, beauty is repeatedly set against violence, most powerfully in "To the Early Dead in Battle" and "Summer in England 1914," where England's pastoral calm is shadowed by the devastation of war. Yet even in grief, the poems remain alert to innocence, sacrifice, and the hidden depths of ordinary life. The collection's later poems deepen this blend of devotion and reflection. "Free Will," "In Sleep," "Easter Night," and "The Lord's Prayer" explore conscience, suffering, prayer, and divine mystery, while "To Olivia of Her Dark Eyes" turns toward lineage, beauty, and love. Throughout, Meynell's lyrical precision and emotional restraint reveal a mind attentive to inherited memory, moral struggle, and the sacred presence within both personal and universal experience. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.