We approach this year\u2019s Remembrance Day on Monday the 11th. Marking 106 years since Armistice Day 1918 and the ending of the First World War. We\u2019d like to just take a quick moment to remind you all about the university\u2019s War Poets Collection. Give a brief history of our Craiglockhart campus. Long before it became the property of the university.\u00a0 The building which now houses our Craiglockhart Campus was known as Craiglockhart Hydropathic. Originally built as a medical centre specialising in water therapy during the Victorian Era. However, during the First World War, the facility became a military hospital. Focusing on the treatment of military officers suffering from shell shock.<\/p>\n
The hospital was the site of pioneering work in the field of psychiatry. With Dr William H. R. Rivers became well-loved among the patients for his advocacy for humane treatment of men who were branded as cowardly by much of society.\u00a0 Rivers encouraged the men to talk about their experiences and express their emotions at a time when men were expected to be reserved and unflinching. However, the hospital is perhaps most well-known for the patients that were treated there. Especially Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. The two men would go on to become famous for their poetry. They wrote about their experiences in the war, with Sassoon already being a published poet before the war. Owen had much of his poetry published posthumously after he died a week before the war\u2019s end. Although the two were only at the hospital for a few months in 1917. Their time at Craiglockhart was vital to the development of both men\u2019s poetry and had a significant impact on both of their personal lives, with Sassoon remaining friends with Dr Rivers for the remainder of River\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
To commemorate the work carried out at the hospital during the war, Edinburgh Napier opened the War Poets Collection in 1988. Located in our Craiglockhart campus,.The collection presents items related to Sassoon, Owen, and other contemporary war poets. Along with items focused on the medical staff of the hospital.<\/p>\n
The collection houses over 650 items, among them are personal correspondence and original copies of poetry, a range of historical photographs of the building and staff, and recordings of poetry recited by famous actors and writers such as Daniel Day-Lewis and Dr Pat Barker. The collection, and accompanying exhibition in Craiglockhart, are a great way to learn more about the history of the university buildings.\u00a0 It allows the university\u2019s heritage team to show off the great work that they do.<\/p>\n
Additionally, our campus libraries have copies of writings by the poets available to borrow. Craiglockhart Library holds copies of Memories of a Fox-Hunting Man, Siegfried Sassoon\u2019s novel which doubles as his fictionalised autobiography. Merchiston library has a copy of Wilfred Owen\u2019s collected poems available in their main stock. The libraries also hold a great deal of other writings about the war poets, including biographies of Sassoon and Owen, along with copies of Pat Barker\u2019s Regeneration trilogy, a series of novels presenting a fictionalised telling of Sassoon\u2019s time at Craiglockhart and the long-term effect it had on him.<\/p>\n
War Poets is located on the ground floor of our Craiglockhart building, just off of the main atrium when you enter the building.\u00a0 free to view during standard campus hours of 9 to 5, Monday to Friday. If you would like a guided tour of the collection you can contact the team at heritage@napier.ac.uk to see about arranging a tour during office hours.<\/p>\n
By Matthew Ferrie<\/p>\n
Read more about the War Poets<\/a> on our blog and Edinburgh Napier Webpages<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Remembrance: War Poets We approach this year\u2019s Remembrance Day on Monday the 11th. Marking 106 years since Armistice Day 1918 and the ending of the First World War. We\u2019d like to just take a quick moment to remind you all about the university\u2019s War Poets Collection. Give a brief history of our Craiglockhart campus. Long […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":275,"featured_media":4262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[805],"tags":[1011],"class_list":["post-4261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-library-special-collections","tag-history-history-worldwarone-firstworldwar-warpoets-owens-sassoon-craiglockhart-armistice-edinburghnapier","post-preview"],"yoast_head":"\n