Dunsany's work, that Nature at least will recover, and that human doings will prove inconsequential in the larger scheme of things. Otherwise, these are meditations from out of Hell, by a man who has been there. Included, too is the "Dirge of Victory," which was published in the Times at the moment of the War's ending, when Dunsany, of all authors then living, was chosen to speak for the entire British nation.
Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, Baron of Dunsany (1878 – 1957) was an Irish writer and dramatist, notable for his work, mostly in fantasy, published under the name Lord Dunsany. More than eighty books of his work were published, and his oeuvre includes many hundreds of published short stories, as well as successful plays, novels and essays. Lord Dunsany is the author of such celebrated works as The Book of Wonder (1912) and The King of Elfland's Daughter (1924). Over the course of a career that spanned more than five decades, Dunsany wrote thousands of stories, plays, novels, essays, poems, and reviews, and his work was translated into more than a dozen languages. Today, Dunsany's work is experiencing a renaissance, as many of his earlier works have been reprinted and much attention has been paid to his place in the history of fantasy and supernatural literature.