You can now compare your edition with the published one that appeared in Severn & Somme in November, 1917

Strafe

The "crumps" are falling twenty to the minute.
We crouch, and wait the end of it - or us.
Just behind the trench, before, and in it,
The "crumps" are falling twenty to the minute;
(O Framilode! O Maisemore's laughing linnet!)
Here comes a monster like a motor-bus.
The "crumps" are falling twenty to the minute:
We crouch and wait the end of it-or us.

Seminar Conclusion

In the course of this tutorial the manuscripts have been referred to as A, B, or C. In reality they are:

A - p.7 of a letter by Gurney to Marion Scott, 11th June 1917 (Gloucestershire Archives, 41.101.5r) B - p.50 of the 'Crimson Notebook' (Gloucestershire Archives, 52.7) used by Gurney May-June 1917 C - Copy by Marion Scott (Gloucestershire Archives, 64.11.33) June 1917

You should have seen that MS C was in a very tidy state, suggesting that it was written at leisure using a pen, and in a different hand. This clearly is Marion Scott's copy which she made back home. Gurney's drafts (A and B) are scribbled in pencil and are much more hurried.

MS B is part of the 'Crimson Notebook' which he carried around with him, inscribed 'Pte Gurney / 2/5 Gloucesters'. This was used by Gurney, principally at Rouen, during May-June 1917 and contains various notes and drafts of poems. On 11th June 1917, he wrote to Marion Scott and included a tidied version of the poem (MS A, page 5 of the letter), which is the one she bases her copy on for eventual publication in Severn & Somme.

Therefore, if we were basing this entirely on the surviving manuscripts we would detect that MS B was the earliest draft (note the reworking of Line 1 and the missing punctuation) and MS A was the final draft — the one nearest the author's intended poem. MS C is simply a copy by another scribe and not by the poet. To this end then MS B would be our base manuscript.

You may have wondered why MS A notes the title as 'Strafe (2)'. This is because Gurney wrote another poem entitled 'Strafe (1)' (sent in the same letter of the 11th June to Marion Scott) which tells humorously of his attempt to 'strafe' his shirt and rid it of lice.

Author: Dr. Stuart Lee, 2009