Wilfred Owen

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 am the enemy you killed, my friend.
    I knew you in this dark; for so you frowned
    Yesterday through me as you jabbed and killed.
    I parried; but my hands were loath and cold.
    Let us sleep now.
    Wilfred Owen (1893–1918)

    Red lips are not so red As the stained stones kissed by the English dead.
    Wilfred Owen (1893–1918)

    My soul’s a little grief, grappling your chest,
    To climb your throat on sobs; easily chased
    On other sighs and wiped by fresher winds.
    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, His frost will fasten on this mud and us,
    Shriveling many hands, puckering foreheads crisp.
    The burying-party, picks and shovels in their shaking grasp,
    Pause over half-known faces. All their eyes are ice,
    But nothing happens.
    Wilfred Owen (1893–1918)