War Music

"War Music" is both British poet Christopher Logue's ongoing project to create a modernist poem based on Homer's Iliad, and the name of one volume of that project.

The project began in 1959. The first volume published was the "Patrocleia". "GBH" and "Pax"make up the rest of the core poem known as "War Music", along with "Kings" and "The Husbands".

Since the publication of the "War Music" collection, Logue has also written two additional volumes, "All Day Permanent Red" and "Cold Calls", the latter of which won the 2005 Whitbread Poetry Award.

Logue's work has created some controversy among classicists since Logue does not know Ancient Greek, and instead bases his work on other translations of the "Iliad", notably Chapman, Pope, Lord Derby, A.T. Murray, and E.V. Rieu, according to the Author's Note to War Music.

The work features a modernist, Imagist style and forsakes most of Homer's notable stylistic features for a looser structure. It also alters the plot and characters in many minor points.