Pseudonymous wrote:-
"One part of the book that caught my attention was towards the end of the section called Just Before and after the Battle, Mother."

One thing struck me about the forty pages of that chapter that made it different from the rest of the book was the number of quotations that Roud makes in this chapter. There are 22 quotations of song lyrics and 34 of prose comments either from written or transcribed interview sources; all of these are dove-tailed carefully to illustrate or enhance the points that he is making or the activity that he is describing. Perhaps there is more in the literature and in the songs about the lives of soldiers and sailors, but I'd like to know if he was making this chapter different consciously or whether it is just a coincidence. I must try to remember to ask him the next time that I see him.