- was injured in 1915 and then met the poet Sassoon in a hospital in Craiglockart because of a shellshock

- poems are often graphically illustrated and in contrast to the usual patriotic texts of WW1

- enlisted in the war out of intrest

- fought as a second lieutenant after his training

- was awarded the military cross short before his death

After school, Owen had gone and took a job as a junior teacher, but that was short lived as he took the entrance exams to get into University of London. Owen applied to, and was accepted to University of London. However, he could not afford the tuition and was not offered a scholarship, so he had gone and followed his mothers wishes to become a priest.

He was working at the Vicar of Dunsden to become a lay assistant. However, whilst working, he studied at the University College, Reading for botany, archaeology, the arts and more and was later on persuaded into studying Old English.

He became discouraged by the church and their inactivity to help the poor, and renounced his faith, leaving for a teaching post at the Berlitz School of Languages in Bordeaux, France. There he taught English for long hours at low pay. 

At this point Owen would meet Laurent Tailhade, a published poet, who encouraged him to write more poetry. This is also where the war would begin.

September: teaches English in France

1914: June: tutoring in family in the Pyrenees, meets french poet Laurent Tailhade

December: tutoring in English family in France

1915: back to France after brief visit home, returns to England and enlists in London Regiment, which shortly afterwards became the second artists riffles officers training corps

1916: commissioned into Manchester Regiment, with friend 2/Lt. Gregg devises improvement to gas mask; in 25th Bn. Middle Sex Regiment is classified as "1st class shot"; official end to battle of Somme; Christmas: embarkation leave

1917: several battles; rejoins the battalion; C.O. Leutnant Colonel Luxmoore notices that Owen is unwell -> evacuated w. shell shock; arrives at hospital, meets Siegfried Sasson and Robert Graves; writes several poems, after leave= posted to 5th Bn. manchester at Scarborough

1918: attends Robert Graves' wedding, passed fit for service and joins Battalion again, sees Siegfried Sasson wounded in battalion-> returns to France, back again in battalion, killed in action on banks of the Sambre- Oise canal

Mary Millard Owen was born in 1896 - doctors said she wouldn't survive but she did, never grew taller than 5 feet

William Harold Owen was born in 1897

Colin Owen was born in 1900 - he had rickets and his legs were in iron most of the time of his childhood

(Kira)

Etaples.

with his mother and sent her over

664 letters while he was away,

felt that her marriage limited her intellectual,

economical and musical abilities

"Anthem for Doomed Youth"

Moves to Bordeaux to teach English.

"Away from his mother's influence he became critical of evangelical religion"

"Such thoughts led to a difficult and troubled period during January 1913, when Wilfred and Dunsden's vicar appear to have argued, and - or because perhaps as a result of - Owen suffered a near nervous breakdown"

"The young poet found considerable material in the poverty and death he observed working for the church. His 'compassion' was often very close to morbidity.

"During this period of relaxation Wilfred Owen wrote

what critics often label his first 'war-poem' - 'Uriconium, an Ode' - after visiting an archaeological dig."

"On the 30th April whilst on parade he was noted as being ‘shaky’ and on 1st May he was diagnosed as suffering from shell-shock ('neurasthenia') and evacuated to England."

"All a poet can do today is warn"

"By the end of the First World War, he had become not only their advocate but a true military hero himself."

"The most remarkable aspect of Owen's stay at the hospital, though, is the fact that he emerged not merely as the author of some of the most stunning poetry of the 20th century – and the voice of a generation – but that he was also determined to return to the front line.

Sassoon begged him not to go, and even threatened, at one point, to stab him in the leg to prevent him doing so.