The Poetry of Wilfred Owen

Author Bio: Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Owen (1893–1918) 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 stood in stark contrast both to the public perception of war at the time and to patriotic verse written by earlier war poets. He was killed in action at age twenty-five, just one week before the armistice, and most of his poems were published posthumously. In November 1985, he was one of sixteen poets of the Great War commemorated on a slate stone unveiled in Westminster Abbey‘s Poet’s Corner. His best-known works include “Dulce et Decorum Est,” “Insensibility,” “Anthem for Doomed Youth,” “Futility,” and “Strange Meeting.”