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Wilfred Owen Hamza Maarya Rahul
Who is he? It is fair to say that Wilfred Owen is one of the greatest writer of war poetry in the English Language. He wrote about his intense personal experience as a soldier and wrote with extreme power of the physical, moral and psychological trauma of the first world war. All of his war poems, from which he is famous for, were written in the space of fifteen months.
Background to life When he was 19, he realised his dream of becoming a poet. He was attached to his mother, to whom he wrote 600+ letters. He was a christian. He was a language teacher in france from 1913 to 1915, he saw propaganda and this made him wanted to become a soldier, and he volunteered on the 21st of October 1915, he enjoyed being a soldier within a week he was transported to the front line where he experienced gas attacks, bodies rotting dead, then he understood the meaning of war. Towards the end of the war, he was blown up, concussed and suffered shellshocks, . After spending some time in the hospital he was then sent back to the trenches, soon after he was shot near the village of ors on the 4th of november.
Admission to Hospital The government recruited Owen after experiencing the war and asked him to write about the positives of the war in order to attract more people to fight. However Owen wrote about the truth and the harsh realities of war. The government couldn't allow this and therefore sent him Craiglockhart War hospital where he was treated for his shell shock. It was here he met with Siegfried Sassoon, who read Owens poetry and urged him to continue writing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuzRR3jVgS0 A fictional clip on when they met. Siegfried Sassoon
Poems Owen is known as the leading poet of the first world war. He is known for his war poetry on the horrors of trench and gas warfare. He had been writing poetry for some years before the war, as early as when he was 10. These were romantic poems and influenced by Keats and Shelly, and this is what his early poems were on. His poetry went through big changes in 1917, As part of therapy in the hospital, his doctor, Aurthur Brock encouraged Owen to articulate his experiences of war and horrors he faced through poetry. Sassoon continued to help Owen write his poems, and urged him to continue to write. Original Manuscript of Owen’s “Anthem for doomed youth”
Famous Poems Examples of famous poems: Dulce et decorum est- Known for horrific imagery and condemnation of war Insensibility- explores the effect of warfare on soldiers Anthem for doomed youth-theme of horror in war Futility- The poem is well known for the departure of Owens horrific style, to a new soothing and somewhat lighthearted feel in comparison.
