I would say that my aims of writing this book are less concerned with the facts of history than with the truth of art. - Vernon Scannell

The poet , absorbed in the solving of formal problems, the struggle with slippery eels of language, has no time for dissimulation and he tells us more about himself than he knows.

The servicemen of the 1939 - 45 war could not be disillusioned because they held not illusions to start with, the most common mood found everywhere was one of dour resolution, skeptical, resigned.

In the excitement and rigours of the game or battle with words and shapes, self-interest is mislaid and objective truth may often be revealed.