Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC (18 March 1893 – 4 November 1918) was an English poet and soldier. He was one of the leading poets of the First World War. His war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare was much influenced by his mentor Siegfried Sassoon and stood in contrast to 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", "Spring Offensive" and "Strange Meeting". Owen was killed in action on 4 November 1918, a week before the war's end, at the age of 25.
For the politician, see Wilfrid Owen.
Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Edward Salter Owen
18 March 1893
Oswestry, Shropshire, England
4 November 1918 (aged 25)
Sambre–Oise Canal, France
1915–1918
Early life
Owen was born on 18 March 1893 at Plas Wilmot, a house in Weston Lane, near Oswestry in Shropshire. He was the eldest of Thomas and (Harriett) Susan Owen (née Shaw)'s four children; his siblings were Mary Millard, (William) Harold, and Colin Shaw Owen. When Wilfred was born, his parents lived in a comfortable house owned by his grandfather, Edward Shaw.
After Edward's death in January 1897, and the house's sale in March,[1] the family lodged in the back streets of Birkenhead. There Thomas Owen temporarily worked in the town employed by a railway company. Thomas transferred to Shrewsbury in April 1897 where the family lived with Thomas' parents in Canon Street.[2]
Thomas Owen transferred back to Birkenhead in 1898 when he became stationmaster at Woodside station.[2] The family lived with him at three successive homes in the Tranmere district area of the town.[3] They then moved back to Shrewsbury in 1907.[4] Wilfred Owen was educated at the Birkenhead Institute[5] and at Shrewsbury Technical School (later known as the Wakeman School).
Owen discovered his poetic vocation in about 1904[6] during a holiday spent in Cheshire. He was raised as an Anglican of the evangelical type, and in his youth was a devout believer, in part thanks to his strong relationship with his mother, which lasted throughout his life. His early influences included the Bible and the Romantic poets, particularly Wordsworth and John Keats.[7]
Owen's last two years of formal education saw him as a pupil-teacher at the Wyle Cop school in Shrewsbury.[8] In 1911 he passed the matriculation exam for the University of London, but not with the first-class honours needed for a scholarship, which in his family's circumstances was the only way he could have afforded to attend.
In return for free lodging, and some tuition for the entrance exam (this has been questioned) Owen worked as lay assistant to the Vicar of Dunsden near Reading,[9] living in the vicarage from September 1911 to February 1913. During this time he attended classes at University College, Reading (now the University of Reading), in botany and later, at the urging of the head of the English Department, took free lessons in Old English. His time spent at Dunsden parish led him to disillusionment with the Church, both in its ceremony and its failure to provide aid for those in need.[10][11]
From 1913 he worked as a private tutor teaching English and French at the Berlitz School of Languages in Bordeaux, France, and later with a family. There he met the older French poet Laurent Tailhade, with whom he later corresponded in French.[12] When war broke out, Owen did not rush to enlist – and even considered joining the French army – but eventually returned to England.[9]
Memory
There are memorials to Owen at Gailly,[52] Ors,[53] Oswestry,[54] Birkenhead (Central Library) and Shrewsbury.[55]
On 11 November 1985, Owen was one of sixteen Great War poets commemorated on a slate stone unveiled in Westminster Abbey's Poet's Corner.[56] The inscription on the stone is taken from Owen's "Preface" to his poems: "My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity."[57] There is also a small museum at the Craiglockhart War Hospital, now a Napier University building, containing the "War Poets Collection".[58]
The forester's house in Ors where Owen spent his last night, Maison forestière de l'Ermitage, has been transformed by Turner Prize nominee Simon Patterson into an art installation and permanent memorial to Owen and his poetry. It opened to the public on 1 October 2011.[59]
In November 2015, actor Jason Isaacs unveiled a tribute to Owen at the former Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh where Owen was treated for shell shock during WWI.[60]
Susan Owen's letter to Rabindranath Tagore marked, Shrewsbury, 1 August 1920, reads: "I have been trying to find courage to write to you ever since I heard that you were in London – but the desire to tell you something is finding its way into this letter today. The letter may never reach you, for I do not know how to address it, tho' I feel sure your name upon the envelope will be sufficient. It is nearly two years ago, that my dear eldest son went out to the War for the last time and the day he said goodbye to me – we were looking together across the sun-glorified sea – looking towards France, with breaking hearts – when he, my poet son, said those wonderful words of yours – beginning at 'When I go from hence, let this be my parting word' – and when his pocket book came back to me – I found these words written in his dear writing – with your name beneath."[61]
Wilfred Owen Association
To commemorate Wilfred's life and poetry, The Wilfred Owen Association was formed in 1989.[62][63] Since its formation the Association has established permanent public memorials in Shrewsbury and Oswestry. In addition to readings, talks, visits and performances, it promotes and encourages exhibitions, conferences, awareness and appreciation of Owen's poetry. Peter Owen, Wilfred Owen's nephew, was President of the Association until his death in July 2018.[64] The Association's Patrons, listed in the same order as on the Association's website, are Peter Florence, Helen McPhail, Philip Guest, Dr Rowan Williams (Archbishop of Canterbury 2002–2012) and Sir Daniel Day-Lewis; Grey Ruthven, 2nd Earl of Gowrie (1939–2021) was also a Patron.[65][66] The Association presents a biennial Poetry Award to honour a poet for a sustained body of work that includes memorable war poems; previous recipients include Sir Andrew Motion (Poet Laureate 1999–2009), Dannie Abse, Christopher Logue, Gillian Clarke and Seamus Heaney. Owen Sheers was awarded the prize in September 2018.[67][68][69]
Depictions in popular culture
In literature and films
Stephen MacDonald's play, Not About Heroes, first performed in 1982, takes as its subject matter the friendship between Owen and Sassoon, and begins with their meeting at Craiglockhart during World War I.[70]
Pat Barker's historical novel, Regeneration (1991), describes the meeting and relationship between Sassoon and Owen,[71] acknowledging that, from Sassoon's perspective, the meeting had a profoundly significant effect on Owen. Owen's treatment with his own doctor, Arthur Brock, is also touched upon briefly. Owen's death is described in the third book of Barker's Regeneration trilogy, The Ghost Road (1995).[72] In the 1997 film Regeneration, Stuart Bunce played Owen.[73]
Owen is the subject of the BBC docudrama Wilfred Owen: A Remembrance Tale (2007), in which he is played by Samuel Barnett.[74]
Owen was mentioned as a source of inspiration for one of the correspondents in the epistolary novel, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2008), by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.[75]
In Harry Turtledove's multi-novel Southern Victory Series, the title of the third volume, Walk in Hell, is taken from a line in "Mental Cases". That part of the series is set during an alternate history version of World War I, which sees Canada invaded and occupied by United States troops. On the title page, Owen is acknowledged as the source of the quote.
The Burying Party (2018), depicts Owen's final year, from his time at Craiglockhart Hospital up to the Battle of the Sambre (1918). Matthew Staite stars as Owen and Joyce Branagh as his mother Susan.[76][77][78]
Owen, portrayed by Matthew Tennyson, and his friendship with Siegfried Sassoon (Jack Lowden), are depicted in Benediction, a 2021 biographical-drama film, directed by Terence Davies.
In music
His poetry has been reworked into various formats. For example, Benjamin Britten incorporated eight of Owen's poems into his War Requiem, along with words from the Latin Mass for the Dead (Missa pro Defunctis). The Requiem was commissioned for the reconsecration of Coventry Cathedral and first performed there on 30 May 1962.[79] Derek Jarman adapted it for the screen in 1988, with the 1963 recording as the soundtrack.[80]
The Ravishing Beauties recorded Owen's poem "Futility" in an April 1982 John Peel session.[81]
Also in 1982, 10,000 Maniacs recorded a song titled "Anthem for Doomed Youth", loosely based on the poem, in Fredonia, New York. The recording appeared on their first EP release Human Conflict Number Five and later on the compilation Hope Chest. Also appearing on the Hope Chest album was the song "The Latin One", a reference to the title of Owen's poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" on which the song is based.
Additionally in 1982, singer Virginia Astley set the poem "Futility" to music she had composed.[82]
In 1992, Anathema released The Crestfallen EP, with the song "They Die" quoting lines from Owen's poem "The End", which also formed the epitaph on his grave in Ors.
Rudimentary Peni issued their single "Wilfred Owen the Chances" in 2009. The lyrics are from Owen's poem, "The Chances".[83]
Wirral musician Dean Johnson created the musical Bullets and Daffodils, based on music set to Owen's poetry, in 2010.[84]
In 2010 Canadian indie pop band, The High Dials, released an album Anthems for Doomed Youth, the title referencing Owen's poem "Anthem for Doomed Youth".[85]
In 2015, the British indie rock band, The Libertines, released an album entitled Anthems For Doomed Youth; this featured the track "Anthem for Doomed Youth", named after Owen's poem.[86]
His poetry is sampled multiple times on the 2000 Jedi Mind Tricks album Violent by Design.[87][88] Producer Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind has been widely acclaimed for his sampling on the album, and inclusion of Owen's poetry.
