Reread over the weekend for a conference paper proposal. Owen's imagery always shocks the reader about the truth of war, no matter how many readings.

Great book, my first real introduction to poetry. I still like to dip into reading my fav poems. Its a shame that it takes a war to find such beauty

The first time I have ever sat down to read the poems together, and I must admit I found it hard-going - truly wonderful, haunting, beautiful and heart wrenching. I am going to buy a copy for my own library as I can see myself coming back to Owen many times in the future.

Making a note that I skipped the intro and appendices so I can go back at a later date (it was taking me too long to read it already).

To everything there is a season, the poet for a time for War

Wilfred Owen has been one of very favourite poets from before I did my 'O-levels' (come to think of it, it's hard to think of one I'd put above him); which goes to show how long ago that is around 1975! I'm apparently not completely alone, his most famous poem Dulce et decorum est is not only one of the - if not the most - famous poems of the 20th century, it is one that is actually read. Regularly voted by the Great British Public as one their favourite poems ever written, and who am I to argue (at least when I can't disagree, anyway).

So let's start with that, Dulce et decorum est is, for me, a poem for which superlatives run out. Owen's language that leaves no hiding place, and striking imagery, dumps the reader right into the mud, blood, and exploded body quags that so much of the Great War was fought and died in. It shoves an inadequate gas mask on us, and we too are a witness to what Owen saw.

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge

LL. 1 -2

Like the soldiers who so often had no moment to prepare, neither do we. There we are, in the 'sludge', not merely with the Tommies but 'of' them.







This complete collection of all his poems edited by Cecil Day Lewis, Poet Laureate (1968-1972) is, of itself, first rate. Day Lewis includes pre-war poetry, what he calls 'minor poems', fragments, and juvenalia. He had access to all six collections of manuscripts (including one from the British Museum, one from Siegfried Sassoon, one from Edmund Blunden, who authors a fascinating memoir of Owen [appendix 1]). Day Lewis makes excellent use of all these to provide the reader with the best

If you know anything about history, there's no way you can read The Parable of the Old Man and the Young and not get chills. So, so powerful.

A must-read, in the canon of WW1 poetry

Wilfred Owen is considered by many to be one of the best modern war poets to have ever put pen to paper. He fought and died in World War One and wrote his best work during his time in the trenches. His poems depicting the war are brutal, honest, and humane. They mock the sentimentality that was present on the homefront. They plead for a cessation of violence. They wrestle with the motives to wage war and participate in one. And perhaps most importantly they tell a story of the horror and carnage that had never been witnessed on this planet before.

This particular collection also contains many of his poems that do not center on his experience on the Front. I found that they paled in comparison to his wartime writing.

As April is National Poetry Month and as I am still investigating first hand accounts of WWI, I have chosen this book to read.

Brilliant poet whose life was cut short like so many men at that time, remember studying Dulce et decorum est at school. Owen's description of a gas attack was so vivid and you can feel the panic. Years later I discovered that one of my great grandfather's had been involved in a gas attack in WWI, I don't know where or when, I only know that it resulted in his death at the age of 45 in 1939.
Now everytime I read that section I wonder about him.

I've decided to name my next cat Wilfred MeOwen.

Couldn't connect with them.