Wilfred Owen: Britain's key WW1 poet

Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) was born in Nth Shropshire, learning at Shrewsbury Technical School. He went to Birkenhead Institute Liverpool & Shrewsbury Technical College, then worked as a pupil-teacher in a poor rural parish. So he had to start teaching in Bordeaux to earn money, just as war broke out in mid-1914.He enlisted in the British Army in 1915 and by Jan 1916 he saw active service in the trenches on the Western Front. Owen wrote poetry during this time, and his work was heavily influenced by his war experiences and the suffering he witnessed. His poetry was known for its stark realism, emotional intensity and condemnation of war horrors. See, for example, Anthem for Doomed Youth, 1917.Lt. Owen on cover of The Poems of Wilfred OwenPenguinWhile fighting near St Quentin on the Somme in Apr 1917, Wilfred suffered serious concussion and trench fever. A doctor diagnosed shellshock, used to describe the physical and/or psychological damage suffered by soldiers in combat. Owen was sent…