Early Life and Interest in Literature
Wilfred Owen was born on 18 March 1893, in Oswestry, Shropshire. He had an older brother, Harold, and a younger sister, Mary Millard. Wilfred moved with his family to Birkenhead in Liverpool in 1897, where his father worked as a railway station master. Wilfred was brought up in a very religious atmosphere, mainly attended church as a child but he was also very much interested in literature from a young age. He attended Birkenhead Institute, a local grammar school in Birkenhead, where he was encouraged to write poetry. At the age of 16, he attended the Technical College in Shrewsbury, and then went to the former University College of North Wales at Bangor in 1911 to study for a teaching qualification.
Beginning of Writing Career
In 1907, Wilfred decided to start writing poetry, partly due to the influence of his mentor and teacher, Herbert Wanklyn. Wilfred’s first collection of poems, ‘Miners’, was published in 1912. On leaving university, he became a lay assistant at Dunsden Parish Church in Reading and taught Sunday school there. He was a dedicated teacher and became very popular amongst his students. In the autumn of 1915, he had resigned his job and joined the British Army, volunteering to serve as a soldier in World War I. He was initially posted to the small General Hospital in Shrewsbury before being posted to France in December, 1915 with the Second Northumbrian Field Ambulance unit at Boulogne.
Writing During War Time
Whilst in France, Wilfred continued to work on his writing, sending poems and letters back home to England. Wilfred was exposed to the horrors and realities of war, which had a profound effect on his writing. His war-time experiences created a deep emotional bond with the men he wrote about who had experienced loss, tragedy, and despair. Writing was a therapeutic way for him to process his emotions and created a way for him to keep a record of his experience for posterity. He wrote about patriotism, disillusionment, the sufferings of the individual, and the strength of many veterans. Wilfred’s poetry is characterised by its use of rhythm, rhyme and imagery, which evoke strong emotions of pity, tragedy and sorrow in the reader.
Poems During War Time
It was during this period in France that Wilfred wrote some of his most famous and celebrated poems, such as ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’, ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, ‘The Send-Off’ and ‘Futility’. Wilfred Owen was an insightful observer of war, and his poems capture the brutality and futility of war as well as conveying the camaraderie between soldiers. He also had an understanding of the psychological effects of warfare on the individual and the collective. Wilfred’s deep challenges to society and to the institution of war were embedded in his writing and became a powerful tool in conveying his emotions and reflections to a wider audience, who were not necessarily fearful or waging a war of their own.
Legacy After War
Wilfred’s poems, including ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’, ‘Disabled’, ‘Futility’, ‘Strange Meeting’, ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, ‘The Send-Off’, ‘Miners’ and ‘Weapon Bible’, have become classics, admired by generations of readers for their fierce criticism of society, their powerful imagery and their poignant evocation of the human cost of war. His work has influenced generations of writers, and his legacy lives on through his poetry and through the award of the Wilfred Owen Memorial Award, given each year to those who have continued his legacy of challenging war and its effects.
Influence on Later Wartime Poets
Wilfred Owen’s poetry had a profound effect on other wartime poets, such as Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves and Edward Thomas, to name just a few. His work was a major influence on Sassoon’s war poems, and Sassoon was one of the main advocates of Owen’s work after Owen’s death. Sassoon championed Owen’s work, so much so that when the Oxford University Press published the first anthology of Owen’s works in 1920, it was edited by Sassoon. Similarly, Robert Graves, along with Sassoon, was a major influence on Wilfred’s poetry and was possibly the first critic to recognise the value of Owen’s works.
Mythology and Symbolism in Poems
Throughout his work, Wilfred used mythology and symbolism as tools to amplify the intensity of his emotions. In ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’, for instance, he uses the image of Angel Gabriel to call out to the dead young soldiers, asking why they gave their lives for no-one. Wilfred also wrote extensively about the afterlife, with ‘Strange Meeting’, which imagines a soul speaking to the visitors to a battlefield. He also frequently used the imagery of birds to depict freedom and hope, such as in ‘Disabled’ which talks of a disabled soldier’s longing to be free, like a bird.
Writing After Death
Wilfred Owen was killed in action on the 4th of November 1918, just a week before the war had ended – his death a lasting reminder of the tragedy of war. Wilfred had published relatively few poems before his death, but those few poems were enough to produce a lasting memorial. In 1920, Wilfred’s mother, Susan Owen, published his most famous poem, ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’, in an anthology of his work, entitled ‘Poems’. Wilfred’s legacy has been kept alive through his work, which has continued to influence generations of readers and writers.
Techniques and Criticism
Wilfred Owen’s poetry is characterised by its strong use of metaphor and symbolism, rhythm, rhyme and imagery. These tools allow Owen to evoke strong emotions of pity, sorrow and tragedy, as well as to provide insight into the realities of war. Critics of his work often point to his strong use of language as one of the major factors that make his work so powerful and affective, as well as his deep understanding of the psychology of war.
Conclusion
Wilfred Owen was a talented poet who used his writing to challenge society’s attitude towards war and the horror it brings. His work was a powerful and poignant reminder of the brutality of war and has inspired generations of poets and writers. Wilfred Owen’s work remains an important reminder of the tragedy of war and continues to be an inspiration to many.
