The ordeal of Ivor Gurney

the long version

This biography of author, poet, composer and World War I Veteran Ivor Gurney focuses on his life-long battle with mental illness, which was probably exacerbated by his war experiences. He wrote, "Keep the Home Fires Burning," a very popular WWI song, as well as classical music, and several volumes of poetry. Gurney was confined for the last fifteen years of his life in a mental institution, after suffering several breakdowns, some of these being attributed to "shell shock." There is some question as to whether or not this diagnosis was correct. He was briefly a student of composer Ralph Vaughn Williams and was a close friend of many "soldier-poets," including Edward Thomas.