Product Description
Wilfred Owen was a poet and one of the first war protesters of modern times. He was killed in action on the Western Front when he was only 25 years old. Book also includes some of his poetry. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of Wilfred (Edward Salter) Owen, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 2340 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Book Description
Mr. Hibberd's new biography of the Great War's greatest poet, based on more than thirty years of wide-ranging research, brings new information and reinterpretation to virtually every phase of Owen's life--carefully guarded by family and friends after his death. Although Dominic Hibberd modestly says that his book 'is not, of course, definitive,' it is hard to see how it could be improved upon. --Times Literary Supplement ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Owen's sexuality
Following up on "beckahi" ... You may feel that Hibberd, in discussing Owen's sexuality, "seems a little over-insistent with too little to back it up," but this only reflects your unwillingness to admit the obvious.Owen's gayness is undisputed, except perhaps, as you say, by his brother Harold who was motivated by a misguided desire to "enshrine" Wilfrid's legend and effectively clean up the details he didn't like.

Owen's and Sassoon's romantic relationship has been well documented, but the proof is in the pudding!Owen *himself* writes about his feelings toward men, both in his private correspondence and, most significantly, in the poetry.Several poems (such as "Arms and the Boy" and "Sonnet To My Friend - With an Identity Disc") have heavy homoerotic content, and one ("To Eros") makes a crystal clear reference to the gender of his beloved.Credit should be given to Hibberd for discussing all this in the light of day.

As for the renewed interest Owen's poetry received in the 1960s, this is mostly due to it being masterfully set by Benjamin Britten in his 1962 "War Requiem".And let's just say that Britten's pacifism was not the only reason he felt a deep kinship toward Owen!;-)

A telling look at a too-little known legend
There's not much that can be said about Wilfred Owen that shouldn't have already been said.Yet the life of this brilliant poet, which was cut short just before the armistice that ended World War I, remains unknown to far too many.Wilfred Owen is referred to as a "soldier-poet" of WWI, which includes him in the company of such literary standards as RupertBrooke, Robert Graves and Siegfried Sassoon.But, as perhaps the greatest poet among the three, he is the least known.Dominic Hibberd's new biography will hopefully set that to rights.

I first fell in love with Wilfred Owen's poetry when I read "Dulce et Decorum est."I found his imagery real and terrifying as it spoke to the true brutality and horrors of "modern" warfare.(The poem is a description of a soldier dying in a gas attack.)Throughout the years I have read much on WWI and on the soldier-poets, but nothing has come as close to so vividly portraying the life of one of them as Hibberd's new biography.

Hibberd begins his very thorough telling of Owen's life, starting with his familial background and youth, and working his way through Owen's years as a parish assistant and his numerous attempts to gain a university education.It seems a long time before we are to encounter Wilfred as a soldier, but Hibberd builds a solid base that explains Wilfred's personality and his attitude towards poetry.Owen's devoutly Evangelical mother had wished her son to enter the service of the church, but after his time in Dunsden, Owen found it increasingly hard to reconcile his Christian faith with his love of literature, finding the two to oppose each other.His one desire in life was to be a poet, and upon entering the English army, he probably had no idea that his voice would come through war.Only a few of Owen's poems (five)were published in his lifetime and after his untimely death, his poetry was collected and published in the 20s and 30s.Afterwards, he seems to disappear entirely from the literary map until a renewed interest in his work arose in the 1960s; an appropriate time since another "war to end all wars" was being fought in Vietnam.

The one area of dicord I take with this biography concerns Owen's sexuality.In the book jacket, and several times throughout the book, Hibberd states that Owen was a homosexual.This is evidently shown through his connections with various personages who were homosexuals, including his friend and mentor, fellow soldier and poet, Siegfried Sassoon.While I don't doubt that this was the truth regarding Owen's sexuality, Hibberd seems a little over-insistent with too little to back it up.Yet perhaps this is due to the inconsistencies that exist in the mystery surrounding Wilfred Owen.Hibberd makes it known that much was done by Owen's brother Harold to paint his brother (as well as himself and the family name) in a better light.As curator of his brother's letters, Harold took great pains to destroy any references that could be suspicious, which must include references to Owen's sexual preferences.As seemingly complete as this biography is, Hibberd himself points out in his epilogue that there are facts about Owen's life that we may never know.

This book is an engaging read for any fan of World War I or any fan of poetry.The literary world is much indebted to Owen, whose poetry spoke the truth in a time or darkness, and whose innovations with style and technique were revered by the very poets he once emulated.If only the literary world was aware of this.Perhaps Dominic Hibberd's book will finally grant Owen his distinguished place and well-deserved fame in modern literature. ... Read more

Book Description
Wilfred Owen left home in Shrewsbury in 1911, at the age of eighteen, to become lay assistant to the vicar of a country parish; seven years later, having won an MC for gallantry, he was killed in action. This selection from the full 1967 edition of his letters includes some early examples, but concentrates on the last seven years of his short life. His letters - almost all to his mother - constitute his self-portrait: the finest English poet of the First World War speaking in his own person from the age of five until the eve of his death. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Poet's Journey
Anyone with a passing interest in writing or soldiery should read this book. Owen's passions, ambitions, times, the arc of his life, they're all here. Biographers analyze, novelists rearrange for dramatic impact, Owen wrote for no public audience and yet these letters beat them all. The equal of Keats' letters on poetry. Underappreciated and miraculous. ... Read more

Book Description
Of all the poets of the First World War, Wilfred Owen most fires the imagination today. This biography is more than a simple account of his life - the childhood spent in the backstreets of Birkenhead and Shrewsbury, the appalling months in the trenches - it is a poets enquiry into the workings of a poets mind. This paperback reproduces all the widely praised illustrations of the original edition, including drawings by the poet and facsimile manuscripts of many of his greatest poems. As a portrait of the artist, the book has proved, as the Scotsman predicted, indispensable to any student of Wilfred Owen's life and work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Excellent if flawed bio
Anyone who loves Owen will want to read this biography; it's well-written and engaging and the section devoted to his wartime service is particularly strong. However...there is a refusal by Stallworthy to confront the reality of Owen's sexual nature -- possibly out of respect for Harold Owen, the poet's brother, who provided insights, anecdotes and documents of great value to Stallworthy. Unfortunately Stallworthy must tie himself in knots to avoid labeling Owen homosexual while at the same time citing lines in which Owen makes his physical and romantic desire for men, and the guilt this caused him, quite clear (and the reader is left with the strong impression that Stallworthy knows the score but doesn't feel he can present it honestly). A more recent biography of Owen, by Dominic Hibberd, deals frankly with this critical facet of the poet's nature (which had immense impact on his art and his life in the trenches), as well as being a very well-researched and well-written work all around.If an individual were to read only one biography of Wilfred Owen, I would therefore recommend that he or she choose Hibberd's version. But for anyone who truly loves and admires Owen, Stallworthy's study is highly recommended --Stallworthy provides a fascinating if incomplete picture of the poet; I would suggest reading this first and then moving on to Hibberd.

A very good biography
This is as complete a biography as there can be about a peculiar character. The author takes advantage of his friendship with Wilfred Owen's brother Harold, to get access to family documents and memories indispensable to get to know his subject better. The tone of the biography is balanced, objective and critical: it is not an elegy nor an attack.

Now, Wilfred Owen is one of the best poets of WWI, and his carrer is interesting and, above all, intriguing. Up until he's 20 or so, he's not a very likable character. His mother was a prudish Calvinist, tyranical and at times over-protecting, but she also supported Wilfred at every stage, especially in his early ambitions to be a great poet.

The interesting change is the one Wilfred experiences after he decides to volunteer for the Army. He changes, from being a pretentious, pompous and picky young man, to a courageous, strong, enduring leader. This change is best reflected in his attitude towards war itself: at first, he sees war as a glorious thing, a wonderful place to show grandiosity. Then, after bitter experiences, he realizes that war is not wonderful, but horrible, cruel, unjust. So the tone of his poetry changes from epic to lyrical. The interesting thing is that he is against war and its continuation, but in the meantime behaves bravely and disciplined in battle.

Another good thing about this book is its ability to capture the way of life, places, activities and feelings of that era.

This is, then, a book of interest for lovers of poetry and people who like to read about WWI.

Enlightening look into the workings of a poet's mind.
Anyone with an interest in the Great War and/or the poet Wilfred Owen will probably prosper from the reading of this book.Generally the book is an even and unbiased account of the social and poetic development of youngWilfred.Jon Stallworthy does an admirable job tracking Owen from a dreamyand slightly pompous school boy with an itch to be a famous poet into theman who is responsible for such works as: Anthem for Doomed Youth, Dulce EtDecorum Est, and Strange Meeting.The book also hosts a variety ofphotograghs featuring Owen, his friends, and family. ... Read more