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A review by maplessence
The Poems of Wilfred Owen by Wilfred Owen
5.0
I've started reading WW1 poetry every year at this time, last year it was Rupert Brooke [ai:Rupert Brooke|546009|Rupert Brooke|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1190084723p2/546009.jpg] this year I have sampled one of the most famous anti-war poets of them all, Wilfred Owen. [ai:Wilfred Owen|4242|Wilfred Owen|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1536705039p2/4242.jpg]
Read his Wikipedia page - his experiences were horrifying and he was killed in action a week before the Armistice. I'm going to be presumptuous and assume that this talented, sensitive young man would literally have been a shellshocked wreck if he survived. How could he not be?
From his most famous poem Dulce et Decorum Est
How could the mind that envisaged the above survive unscathed.
Our local monument is now lit at night and I went to the first night on the 24th (the eve of ANZAC Day) Interesting that was was originally planned was diluted because of public apathy and the expense - and that it has taken close on 100 years to be lit at night.
Lest we forget.
Read his Wikipedia page - his experiences were horrifying and he was killed in action a week before the Armistice. I'm going to be presumptuous and assume that this talented, sensitive young man would literally have been a shellshocked wreck if he survived. How could he not be?
From his most famous poem Dulce et Decorum Est
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned out backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind...
How could the mind that envisaged the above survive unscathed.
Our local monument is now lit at night and I went to the first night on the 24th (the eve of ANZAC Day) Interesting that was was originally planned was diluted because of public apathy and the expense - and that it has taken close on 100 years to be lit at night.
Lest we forget.