Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Owen

1. Poetry

   • Greatly influenced by the Romantic Poets, particulary Keats and Shelley
     • Siegfried Sassoon also had a profound influence on Owen's Work
     • Georgian poets also influenced him
   • His use of pararhyme, with its heavy relience on consonance, was innovative
   • "There is only one war, of that of men against men
     • "All a poet can do is warn. That is why the true poets must be truthful.
   • Writes about the horrors of trench warfare.
     • Wanted to expose this horror to England, and the willingness of the old to sacrifice the young

2. Life

   • Came from religious background; particulary his mother with whom he was very close
     • Mother wanted him to become a priest and Owen went on 'experience' to a church but hated it.
       • Possibly became disillusioned with religion during the war as evidenced in his poetry
   • Born 18/03/1893 in Shropshire
     • Signed up in 1915, volunteered not conscripted.
       • Died 04/11/1918 at the Sambre canal in France
       • Described the war as "suffering the 7th hell" in a letter to his mother
         • Descibed his fellow troops as "emotionless lumps"
   • Mother came from wealthy background but father lost money and family was not well off

3. Craiglockhart

   • Suffered shell shock and moved to Craiglockhart, a psychiatric hospital, in 1917.
     • There he met Sassoon, and they formed a very close relationship
       • Owen had a hero-like admiration for Sassoon
         • Possibly homosexual relationship
           • Graves and Sitwell, who knew Owen personally, have said he was gay.
   • Wrote much of his poetry here