On December 28, 1936, the young English poet John Cornford was killed in action near Cordoba, Spain, while fighting with the International Brigades against the Nationalist forces. Cornford, who was only 21 years old, had been one of the first Englishmen to enlist in the Republican cause, and his poetry, including the famous 'Heart of the Heartless World,' captured the idealism and sacrifice of the International Brigades. His death became a symbol of the generation of poets who gave their lives in Spain.

Cornford's death was mourned by poets on both sides of the Atlantic, and his poems were posthumously celebrated as classics of anti-fascist literature. His work, which combined Marxist analysis with lyricism, inspired a generation of British poets who saw the war as a defining moment for their political and literary consciousness. Cornford's legacy was also kept alive by his fellow volunteers, who recited his poetry in the trenches.