First World War Poetry Digital Archive

Ivor Gurney 'Strafe'

Background information

The Manuscripts

The poem survives in three manuscripts, two by Gurney and one by his friend Marion Scott. In reality these have proper shelf marks (i.e. giving information on the library they are stored in, the collection they belong to, and so on). For the purposes of this seminar the three manuscripts will be referred to as manuscript (abbreviated to MS) A, B, and C.

On completion of your edition, you will be given full information about the manuscripts in question, as well as a chance to look at an existing edition of the poem.

Stages of Editing

Stage I: Compare manuscript images & choose a base manuscript

To begin with you will be asked to look at the three manuscripts.You will have the opportunity to view each of them in turn, and to compare them next to each other. Your goal at this point is to choose a base manuscript, i.e. one which will form the main body of your edition.

Stage II: Create your edition

The next step is to create the edition. Here you will be given a transcription from your chosen manuscript and you will be set the task of noting how the other retentions of the poem in the remaining two manuscripts vary. You will be asked to note these variants and to make any editorial decisions relating to punctuation.

Stage III: Compare with a published edition

Finally, you will be given the choice of having your edition e-mailed to you. Furthermore, at this point you will be able to see a published version of the poem.