Haunting 1914 poem inspires composer of Westminster Abbey's war vigil anthem

Abbey choir commissions David Matthews, whose grandfather died weeks before armistice

As Britain has remembered and commemorated the first world war, which plunged Europe into darkness and despair 100 years ago, there have been moments of argument and polemic.

Was the greatest and bloodiest conflict the continent had ever known justified by the need to thwart Germany's aggressive expansionism? Or was the conflagration a collective folly leading to the needless sacrifice of millions of lives?

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