Literary Birthday – 18 March – Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Owen was born 18 March 1893, and died 4 November 1918.

Wilfred Owen Quotes on Poetry

1. All a poet can do today is warn. That is why the truest poets must be truthful. (Delphi Complete Works of Wilfred Owen (Illustrated))
2. I find purer philosophy in a Poem than in a Conclusion of Geometry, a chemical analysis, or a physical law. (Delphi Complete Works of Wilfred Owen (Illustrated))
3. This book is not about heroes. English poetry is not yet fit to speak of them. Nor is it about deeds, or lands, nor anything about glory, honour, might, majesty, dominion, or power, except War. Above all I am not concerned with Poetry. My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity.
4. I was a boy when I first realised that the fullest life liveable was a Poet’s. (The Collected poems of Wilfred Owen)
5. Ambition may be defined as the willingness to receive any number of hits on the nose.(Delphi Complete Works of Wilfred Owen (Illustrated))
6. My friend, you would not tell with such high zest to children ardent for some desperate glory. The old lie: It is sweet and fitting that you should die for your country.

Wilfred Owen was an English poet and soldier. He is considered to be the leading poet of the First World War and his works are available in The Collected Poems of Wilfred Owen. His realistic poetry on the horrors of trench and gas warfare was in stark contrast to public perception and the patriotic tone of earlier war poets like Rupert Brooke. He was shot and killed in France on 4 November 1918. The news of his death reached his parents as Armistice bells rang on 11 November 1918. According to Britannica: ‘Owen’s work helped lay the foundation for the Modernist era in poetry. He also is significant for his technical experiments in assonance, which were particularly influential in the 1930s.’

Source for image: Allex Langié, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wilfred_Owen_%C3%A0_l%27Arrouaise.jpg
Source for quotes: A-Z