David Jones served in the ranks of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and survived two years service on the Western Front. These experiences form the inspiration for his magnum opus. Written for those men with whom he served, Jones's poem follows a section of Fusiliers in their first six months in the line, culminating in the 38th Welsh Division's attack at Mametz Wood in the second week of the Somme Offensive. Jones imbues his poetry with his literary and cultural influences - invoking the Welsh bards Aneirin and Taliesin, and the tales of Arthur and of Roland, and the long forgotten memories of the Roman legions. This, some have said, tends to make light of the events portrayed, glorifying war, but not so, for Jones isn't in the business of belittling the struggle and death of these men, rather as he says at the beginning he is remembering what he saw and felt. Jones is very much harkening back to an older bardic tradition, manifested in particular by his careful emulation of older poetic traditions, namely that of medieval Wales and France. Though grounded in the cold hard reality of the Western Front, Jones words speak of an older more ancient time; his Fusiliers are no mere victims of a foolish general's blunder - there isn't much of the "lions led by donkeys" myth perpetuated here - but soldiers forced into the heat of battle, who seek to hug the earth but arise to commit themselves to an attack nonetheless. Quite powerful.
If a layman seeks an inkling of understanding of the trenches then this is most certainly the work for it. This is not a memoir, but a lyrical masterpiece of verse and prose, too often overlooked. This is the English language molded and manipulated to charm the senses so as to instill a small appreciation of the reality. It is a song of warriors, composed by one who survived.
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rupsa banerjee
review of David Jones's In Parenthesis
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 5, 2023Nita Nicholson
The most beautiful piece of work I have ever read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 30, 2016