Wilfred Owen

One of Britains best-known and most loved poets Wilfred Owen (18931918) was killed at age 25 on one of the last days of the First World War having acted heroically as soldier and officer despite his famous misgivings about the wars rationale and conduct. He left behind a body of poetry that sensitively captured the pity rage valor and futility of the conflict. In this new biography Guy Cuthbertson provides a fresh account of Owens life and formative influences: the lower-middle-class childhood that he tried to escape; the places he lived in from Birkenhead to Bordeaux; his class anxieties and his religious doubts; his sexuality and friendships; his close relationship with his mother and his childlike personality. Cuthbertson chronicles a great poets growth to poetic maturity illuminates the social strata of the extraordinary Edwardian era and adds rich context to how Owens enduring verse can be understood.