1946. Cresset Press. Pale cloth with gilt. Dust jacket a bit sunned, marked and chipped but complete. Ex libris stamp on front end paper. Described by Herbert Read as "the most sustained meditation on war that has been written in our time." A very nice copy of a scarce title.

Sheila Wingfield (née Sheila Claude Beddington; Viscountess of Powerscourt; May 23, 1906-January 8, 1992)[1] was an Irish poet.

The second world war had a huge impact on the family. Viscount Powerscourt served in the war and was captured by the Germans in Italy. When he came home his health had been compromised and he suffered from shell shock. Lady Powerscourt had taken the family to Bermuda. They returned home when he did. Her best work was written in response to the war Beat Drum, Beat Heart (1946). Her husband came into his inheritance of the Powerscourt Estate in 1947.[3]
She became the leader of Irish Girl Guides and helped catalogue Chester Beatty Library. Her marriage never recovered from the impact of the war however. In 1963 she left her husband and as a result of the financial impact the family sold Powerscourt. Lady Powerscourt lived after that in hotels in Bermuda, London, Dublin and Switzerland. She finally died in a home near Dublin.[3]