WILFRED OWEN

Biography Only four of his poems were published during his lifetime Was a teacher Enlisted in the British Army 1915 His first experiences of active service at Serre and St. Quentin in January-April 1917 led to shell-shock and his return to Britain. His most memorable poems were written during his year off (1917) before returning to the front in 1918.

He felt pressured by the propaganda to become a soldier and volunteered on 21st October He spent the last day of 1916 in a tent in France joining the Second Manchesters. He was full of boyish high spirits at being a soldier. Within a week he had been transported to the front line in a cattle wagon and was "sleeping" 70 or 80 yards from a heavy gun which fired every minute or so. He was soon wading miles along trenches two feet deep in water. Within a few days he was experiencing gas attacks and was horrified by the stench of the rotting dead; his sentry was blinded, his company then slept out in deep snow and intense frost till the end of January. That month was a profound shock for him: he now understood the meaning of war. "The people of England needn't hope. They must agitate," he wrote home.

Wilfred Owen would not have written the war poems for which he is now famous if he had not met Siegfried Sassoon in August Until then, like the vast majority of British people, Owen believed the war was being fought for a just cause. Sassoon saw things differently: he thought politicians had secretly changed their aims and were now more interested in grabbing colonies and trade than in the original, honourable struggle to liberate Belgium. So Sassoon was writing furious poems of protest aimed at the civilian conscience, hoping to persuade the public of the need for immediate peace negotiations. He convinced his new friend.

Relevance to “Images of War”

Purpose His self-appointed task was to speak for the men in his care, to show the 'Pity of War’  What does that mean? "I am more and more a Christian... Suffer dishonour and disgrace, but never resort to arms. Be bullied, be outraged, be killed: but do not kill." Letter to his mother, May  What about that?

WWI a major war centred on Europe that began in the summer of 1914 and lasted until November More than 9 million combatants were killed, largely because of great technological advances in firepower without corresponding advances in mobility