One of the greatest poets of the Great War was born on March 18, 1893. He came from a middle class family. In grade school he became interested in poetry. He was influenced by the Bible and Romantic poets like Wordsworth and Keats. When the war broke out he was teaching English to French children. In 1915, he enlisted in the British army. He wanted to do his duty and to experience war so he could write about it. In 1917, he was knocked unconscious by a shell and spent several days next to the body of a fellow officer. He ended up in the most famous rehabilitation hospital – Craiglockhart War Hospital in England. There he met fellow poet Siefried Sassoon. Sassoon, an already famous poet, helped Owen refine his poetry. He wrote about the horrors of trench warfare. He was declared well and returned to light duty. He could have avoided return to the front, but he wanted to continue to be a voice for the soldiers. Sassoon opposed this decision. He was awarded the Military Cross for leading an assault. On November 4, 1918 (one week before the Armistice), he was killed by a machine gun while leading an attack across a canal. His poems were published posthumously. The most famous is “Anthem for Doomed Youth”.
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells,
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, –
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.
What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing down of blinds.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfred_Owen
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/poet-wilfred-owen-killed-in-action
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