Ivor Gurney

Ivor Gurney was an English poet and composer. He turned to creative expression to soothing his manic depression, something that influenced his entire life. Today, his hundreds of poems and songs are well regarded. His last fifteen years of life were spent in psychiatric hospitals.

First March

by Ivor Gurney

‘First March,’ written by one of the lesser known First World War poets, Ivor Bertie Gurney, is about a soldier’s emotional state while returning to his home.

To God

by Ivor Gurney

‘To God’ is a poem of the early twentieth century. It expresses the plight of the poet persona as he laments to God about his mental illness.