The "war poets" have become synonymous with World War I. This account of poetry during the First World War, which was extremely popular in its original hardcover edition as Violets from Oversea, features 25 poets including Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves, Francis Ledwidge, and Wilfred Owen. Some of the poets glorified the war and many hated it, but nearly all had distinguished front-line records. Some wrote poems specifically about events of the war, while others focused on perennial human concerns. Some, like Robert Graves and Edmund Blunden, went on to distinguished post-war careers, while others like Rupert Brooke and Wilfred Owen did not survive.

The best-loved poems of each poet are featured, as well as a biographical summary that places the poet in the battlefield context in which the poems were written. The book features a color portrait of each poet, showing the uniform worn during the war.