Other Men’s Flowers

This landmark wartime anthology of verse in English, selected by Lord Wavell and published in 1944, is republished with a new foreword by Lindsey Hilsum, International Editor of Channel 4 News.

Field Marshal Archibald Wavell, First Earl Wavell (1883–1950) fought in two world wars, losing an eye during the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915. In World War II he was Commander-in-Chief of British forces in the Middle East, and subsequently India. Wavell was a passionate lover of poetry, and Other Men’s Flowers was compiled — largely from memory — while he was serving as Viceroy of India. The book was an immediate success, and has been in print ever since. This edition is based on the text of the 1952 edition, with a new foreword by Lindsey Hilsum.

Other Men’s Flowers, writes Lindsay Hilsum, was as born in one of the darkest periods of the war. Wavell — a national hero in Britain after his early victories in North Africa — had recently been appointed as Commander-in-Chief, India, to confront the rapid advance of Japanese forces in South-East Asia. On his staff at the Allied Headquarters in Delhi was the adventurer and travel writer Peter Fleming. They frequently discussed literature and the life beyond war; it was Fleming who suggested that Wavell compile an anthology of poetry.

Other Men’s Flowers has its share of poems celebrating patriotism and military valour, but the range extends well beyond the poetry of combat. The themes include magic, mysticism, wanderlust, grief, humour, and love (with a touch of ribaldry). Wavell claimed to have known by heart the more than two hundred poems that he included.

The book was revised more than once following its first publication. An expanded version appeared in 1947 and a posthumous memorial edition in 1952. The present edition has been redesigned and reset following the 1952 text, with the addition of poems that were included only in the 1947 edition.