Legacy of Scottish war poet to be celebrated

Lee sent several poems and sketches back to Scotland while serving on the Western Front. Picture: Contributed

The poems Joseph Lee sent back from the trenches in World War One put him on par with the poets Wilfred Owen and Seigfried Sassoon but while their work grew in stature following the conflict, his faded from view.

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Now, a new collection of poems from the man once known as Dundee’s Battle Bard will be launched as part of the city’s annual Literary Festival in an attempt to restore him to his former place in the public heart.

Lee sent several poems and sketches back to Scotland while serving on the Western Front and continued his work even after being captured by the Germans in 1917.

The two volumes published while he was still fighting saw him hailed among the finest poets of the period and attracted critical acclaim from as far afield as America.

When he was released, publishers were eager to put his war diaries into print.

But in later years, his work faded from the public consciousness, while other war poets rose to fame.

Co-editor Caroline Brown, of Dundee University’s Archive and Museum Services, said the new anthology Joseph Lee: Poems from the Great War will help afford Lee the recognition he deserves.

She said: “These poems reflect the horror and tragedy of war but the same time Lee’s humanity shines through.

“This is particularly evident as he describes how he and his comrades faced life in the trenches with determination and humour.

“It is fitting that nearly a century after they were written they are available to new audiences to remind us all of the consequences of conflict.”

Published by Discovery Press, the anthology comes with a new preface, introduction and essay by Dr Keith Williams, a senior lecturer in English at the university.

Dr Williams said: “Lee was widely known as ‘Dundee’s Battle Bard’. Perhaps the reason he was excluded from post-Great War canon is because his poetry isn’t easy to pigeonhole. He never became a poet of outright anti-war protest like Sassoon or Owen, who were born members of the ‘officer class’, but he neither was he a naive patriot or propagandist.

“His poems register all the ironies of personal and national loss, but also insist the common soldier’s sacrifice was justifiable only if it had truly been necessary.

“I believe readers of this anthology will find Lee deserves to be returned to his rightful position as one of the most important Scottish poets of the War.”

Lee’s life and work will be celebrated at the free launch event at the city’s Bonar Hall from 7.30pm on Wednesday.