War Poems and Others: A Selection

by Wilfred Owen

. with light wear to dustjacket, clean bright copy, no markings, Professional booksellers since 1981

Genres: Poetry

1000 pages, Hardcover

Published May 29, 1992

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the goodreads data base.

Wilfred Owen was a defining voice of British poetry during the First World War, renowned for his stark portrayals of trench warfare and gas attacks. Deeply influenced by Siegfried Sassoon, whom he met while recovering from shell shock, Owen’s work departed from the patriotic war verse of the time, instead conveying the brutal reality of combat and the suffering of soldiers. Among his best-known poems are Dulce et Decorum est, Anthem for Doomed Youth, and Strange Meeting—many of which were published only after his death.
Born in 1893 in Shropshire, Owen developed an early passion for poetry and religion, both of which would shape his artistic and moral worldview. He worked as a teacher and spent time in France before enlisting in the British Army in 1915. After a traumatic experience at the front, he was treated for shell shock at Craiglockhart War Hospital, where Sassoon’s mentorship helped refine his poetic voice.
Owen returned to active service in 1918, determined to bear witness to the horrors of war. He was killed in action just one week before the Armistice. Though only a few of his poems were published during his lifetime, his posthumous collections cemented his legacy as one of the greatest war poets in English literature. His work continues to be studied for its powerful combination of romantic lyricism and brutal realism, as well as its complex engagement with themes of faith, duty, and identity.

Reviews

[Caroline]

For me this remains the definitive edition of Wilfred Owen’s work. Of course there are other more complete books of his poems and his letters but my rather dog-eared copy of Dominic Hibberd’s edition was the one which introduced me to Wilfred Owen at school and led me to a lifetime of reading and re-reading these poems.

The photograph on the cover is of Owen in uniform and was taken in July 1916. To me as a schoolgirl he seemed stern and serious. Now he looks remarkably young. This book begins with a chronology of his twenty five years and a succinct introduction to his life and his poems with Hibberd’s comments
“What did English poetry gain from Beaumont Hamel – or lose in the grey dawn on the canal bank at Ors, seven days before the Armistice?”

What follows is a selection of Owen’s letters and poems in chronological order ending in October 1918 (the month before he was killed) with Spring Offensive. I’d recommend it to anyone who would like a general introduction to his work.

[Peter Holford]

This is a pretty useful edition of Wilfred Owen's outstanding contribution to war poetry. The introductory and bibliographic details are helpful and well-pitched for a teacher of the text. The page referencing, however, is consistently inaccurate in the notes on the poems. Random House should consider resetting the text, since they clearly have added material at various times without having the remainder of the volume proofed or reset.

[Danny Phan]

I learn about this guy in Year 9 English, now I love him

[Miri]

Owen's poems are beautiful and highly experimental, spanning a variety of forms and themes that this edition does justice to in its selection from his works. I wasn't a fan of the old-fashioned style of the editor's notes but they were useful.

[Al Maki]

The style of the early ones is Edwardian and therefore out of date, but the later honestly record the bitter crossing of a water shed in Western history. My favourite book of poetry in 2020.

[Jane]

This was assigned reading when I was in school. It's a great collection of poems.