Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC (18 March 1893 – 4 November 1918) was an English poet and soldier, one of the leading poets of the First World War. His shocking, realistic war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare was heavily influenced by his friend Siegfried Sassoon and stood in stark contrast to both the public perception of war at the time, and to the confidently patriotic verse written by earlier war poets such as Rupert Brooke. Among his best-known works – most of which were published posthumously – are "Dulce et Decorum Est", "Insensibility", "Anthem for Doomed Youth", "Futility" and "Strange Meeting".
Read more about Wilfred Owen: Early Life, War Service, Poetry, Relationship With Sassoon, Death, Depictions in Popular Culture
Famous quotes by wilfred owen:
“I thought of all that worked dark pits
Of war, and died
Digging the rock where Death reputes
Peace lies indeed.”
—Wilfred Owen (1893–1918)
“A short life and a merry one, my buck!
We used to say we’d hate to live dead-old,—
Yet now . . . I’d willingly be puffy, bald,
And patriotic.”
—Wilfred Owen (1893–1918)
“To-night he noticed how the women’s eyes
Passed from him to the strong men that were whole.
How cold and late it is! Why don’t they come
And put him into bed? Why don’t they come?”
—Wilfred Owen (1893–1918)
“Happy are men who yet before they are killed
Can let their veins run cold.”
—Wilfred Owen (1893–1918)
“The centuries will burn rich loads
With which we groaned,
Whose warmth shall lull their dreaming lids,
While songs are crooned:
But they will not dream of us poor lads,
Left in the ground.”
—Wilfred Owen (1893–1918)