Arts of peace

1 August 1914 saw the beginning of the war that was to end all wars and which, instead, ushered in a century of armed conflicts, two of them described as global. This anthology's title is borrowed from Andrew Marvell's ode on Cromwell's return from Ireland, in which he deprecates 'the inglorious arts of peace'. With this gathering of newly composed poems, and against that grain, we look to celebrate all that is left behind in times of conflict, and which conflict is so often evoked to defend. In this spirit, Adrian Blamires and Peter Robinson have edited a collection of poems that address peace and war from an unusually varied range of angles. The more than fifty contributors include Fleur Adcock, Robyn Bolam, Vahni Capildeo, Fred D'Aguiar, Gerald Dawe, Jane Draycott, Elaine Feinstein, Roy Fisher, Debora Greger, Philip Gross, Angela Leighton, William Logan, Allison MacVety, Bill Manhire, John Matthias, Anthony Rudolf, Carol Rumens, Elizabeth Smither and Gregory Woods.