English professor Mark Van Wienen had a chance to live out his dreams of editing.

He recently edited an anthology of poems titled “Rendezvous with Death: American Poems of the Great War,” which is based on World War I.

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to write books,” Van Wienen said. “Editing books, particularly books like ‘Rendezvous with Death,’ which demand a lot of introductory material and notes and other editorial apparatus, is just as fun and rewarding. I especially like it that this anthology is, or at least should be, accessible to many readers, not just professionals in the field of literary studies or American history, but undergraduate students and general readers.”

Van Wienen said the anthology is a way to take what he learned as a scholar of American poetry, and make it accessible to a wider audience.

“I grew up during the Vietnam War and read history books about war, especially World War II while I was a teenager,” Van Wienen said. “Of course, lots of people grew up during the Vietnam War, and lots of teenagers during that era read books like ‘Hitler Moves East,” as I did. A good many of them grew up to be supporters of American involvement in the Vietnam War, and supporters of recent U.S. military adventures since, as the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

Van Wienen credits his educational training and his general interest in history books to his success.

“For me, I suppose it was my critical training as an English major, and particularly my exposure to the anti-war British poets of World War I during my undergraduate studies, that got me thinking in skeptical ways about the culture of patriotism, patriotic death and patriotic killing that are part and parcel of growing up in the United States,” Van Wienen said.

The process of deciding what to edit next came easily for Van Wienen.

“The topic was American Poetry of World War I,” Van Wienen said. “My revision of the dissertation was published in 1997 by Cambridge University Press, under the title ‘PartIsans and Poets: The Political Work of American Poetry In the Great War.’ From there, it seemed the next, natural step to edit an anthology of American World War I poetry, since so much of the poetry that I discuss in ‘Partisans and Poets’ is not very well known.”

Because most of the poetry had not been published again since it first appeared in the 1910s or 1920s, Van Wienen decided to put together a proposal including poems that had been featured in “Partisans and Poets.” He thought they were worth reprinting, but had not fit into the argument of the earlier book. Several publishers showed interest, but the best fit was with a series of edited books being published as the American Poetry Recovery series at the University of Illinois Press.

Van Wienen believes poetry is an excellent tool for learning history.

“I think that ‘Rendezvous With Death’ helps students in number of ways, including students I taught last semester in my course on American Poetry since 1900,” Van Wienen said. “First, these poems help students see very plainly the historical embeddedness of poetry. Second, these poems helps students see all the different perspectives that are part of American history and American literary history. I tried to get students to see these poems, as not only objects to contemplate on the page, but also as active forces seeking to change people’s mind and to fashion and refashion the world in certain ways.”

Van Wienen said he believes poetry has a deep impact on everyday life.

“These poems of World War I are out to change people’s minds, and get them to act in certain ways. All poems do this, in fact, but these poems don’t let you forget it.”