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The War Poems
Wilfred Owen was the greatest poet of the First World War, and his death in battle, a few days before Armistice, was a disastrous loss to English letters.
This volume gathers together the poems for which he is best known, and which represent his most important contribution to poetry in the twentieth century. Taken from the definitive edition of Owen’s work, and containing material unavailable to other editions, this selection has been edited by Professor Jon Stallworthy, who has written an illuminating and authoritative introduction.
This volume gathers together the poems for which he is best known, and which represent his most important contribution to poetry in the twentieth century. Taken from the definitive edition of Owen’s work, and containing material unavailable to other editions, this selection has been edited by Professor Jon Stallworthy, who has written an illuminating and authoritative introduction.
104 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1920
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About the author
Wilfred Owen
178 books235 followersLibrarian 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
November 2, 2018
I have alway loved the poetry of Wilfred Owen, the power of his words are haunting and honest from a man that was suffering through the trenches and all its horrors of WWI. This book gave me more of insight into the man and his relationship plus just a few things that where happening around the time as each poem was written. This was a really good book to read over time.
December 3, 2018
"This book is not about heroes. English poetry is not yet fit to speak of them. / Nor is it about deeds, or lands, nor anything about glory, honour, might, majesty, dominion, or power, except War. / Above all I am not concerned with Poetry. / My subject is War, and the pity of War. / The Poetry is in the pity" (Owen 98).
This poignant quote, intended to be his preface to his collection of war poetry had he lived to see it published in that form. But, like too many soldiers of WWI and other wars, Wilfred Owen did not. Yet, he lives on in his ability to capture the pity.
Wilfred Owen volunteered to join the cause to fight for his country but he was also a blossoming poet. As he soon came to learn, war is not poetic in the sense he once thought. War is....
(words selected from Owen's own poetic words)
Sorrowful
Wailing
Monstrous
False smiles
Shattering
For the dead.
This book is for those considering the military or for those who want to glean a process for growing as a poet: capturing the emotion of a significant part of life.
It's also for those who want to feel even 10% as much pity as those who were in the war to end all wars.
This poignant quote, intended to be his preface to his collection of war poetry had he lived to see it published in that form. But, like too many soldiers of WWI and other wars, Wilfred Owen did not. Yet, he lives on in his ability to capture the pity.
Wilfred Owen volunteered to join the cause to fight for his country but he was also a blossoming poet. As he soon came to learn, war is not poetic in the sense he once thought. War is....
(words selected from Owen's own poetic words)
Sorrowful
Wailing
Monstrous
False smiles
Shattering
For the dead.
This book is for those considering the military or for those who want to glean a process for growing as a poet: capturing the emotion of a significant part of life.
It's also for those who want to feel even 10% as much pity as those who were in the war to end all wars.
February 19, 2021
Any poetry that can make me feel a mirage of emotions is worthy of five stars. Throughout reading this collection of war poetry by Wilfred Owen I felt anger, despair, heartache, compassion, depression, sadness and empathy. Although I don’t always completely understand the poetry I am reading I do enjoy reading it very much. This often leads me to find an analysis of a poem to further my knowledge as to what the poet is trying to convey.
The war poems of Wilfred Owen is a collection of poetry written truthfully about the First World War.
The poems are somber and grim but capture deeply an important time in history. I have read a few of Wilfred Owen’s poems over the years and they improve which each reading. In the preface to his poetry Wilfred Owen wrote, “ Above all I am not concerned with poetry. My subject is war, and the pity of war. The poetry is in the pity. Yet these elegies are to this generation in no sense consolatory. They may be to the next. All a poet can do today is warn. That is why the true poets must be truthful.”
With these words, I was won over straight away. I was saddened to read that Wilfred Owen died on the front seven days before Armistice was called.
This poetry is haunting, emotional and devastating. While you read this collection you will feel the reality of war. It paints vivid images.
This is a collection I will most certainly re-read. My favourite poems at this time are
Dulce Et Decorum Est
Futility
Disabled
Anthem For Doomed Youth
Conscious
Exposure
The Letter
The Last Laugh
The war poems of Wilfred Owen is a collection of poetry written truthfully about the First World War.
The poems are somber and grim but capture deeply an important time in history. I have read a few of Wilfred Owen’s poems over the years and they improve which each reading. In the preface to his poetry Wilfred Owen wrote, “ Above all I am not concerned with poetry. My subject is war, and the pity of war. The poetry is in the pity. Yet these elegies are to this generation in no sense consolatory. They may be to the next. All a poet can do today is warn. That is why the true poets must be truthful.”
With these words, I was won over straight away. I was saddened to read that Wilfred Owen died on the front seven days before Armistice was called.
This poetry is haunting, emotional and devastating. While you read this collection you will feel the reality of war. It paints vivid images.
This is a collection I will most certainly re-read. My favourite poems at this time are
Dulce Et Decorum Est
Futility
Disabled
Anthem For Doomed Youth
Conscious
Exposure
The Letter
The Last Laugh
May 30, 2024
war sucks
July 8, 2018
War is horrifically brutal, yet Owen describes the horrors with such grace. An eloquence which captures the abominations of war, leaves no doubt in one's mind that in his short lifetime he was subject to horrors no human should have to endure. His poetry, whilst taking inspiration from the Romantics, has his own deeply haunting style. It is nothing short of life-altering for me.
"If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dolce et decorum est
Pro patria mori."
"If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dolce et decorum est
Pro patria mori."
January 24, 2022
Sublime! Every single poetry lover should read this book. A masterpiece. I shall add some fragments here, later.
December 1, 2020
TL;DR: In my opinion the greatest war poet.
A list of the best poems in this collection:
- Anthem for Doomed Youth
- Parable of the Old Men and the Young
- Insensibility
- Dulce et Decorum est
- S.I.W.
- Disabled
- Apologia pro Poemate Meo
I studied WWI poetry at sixth form and after reading three of Owen’s poems (Dulce, Anthem and Exposure) I went ahead and read some other poems by him. After that adventure, I’d established that my favourite Wilfred Owen poem is S.I.W., closely followed by Disabled and then Anthem for Doomed Youth.
This poetry anthology introduced me to some new poems I hadn’t known before, take Parable and Apologia, and they’ve made themselves onto my favourites list for Owen.
As a young person in the digital age, being constantly surrounded by media highlighting wars and travesties in other countries, I can often be highly ignorant to past wars. I find myself comparing the struggles of each individual war, or asking the question ‘which is worse’, which is completely disgusting and flippant, as each individual suffering is equally as important and valid as another. In turn, when I read war poems detailing the physical anguish, I tend to almost read past them, knowing that there are hundreds of people going through that exact thing this very moment, and it doesn’t quite have the emotional levity I expect it once held.
Personally, Owens is my favourite poet due to his ability to really highlight the emotional distress war causes. While I would agree that Owens detailing of the horrors of war is magnificent (such as in Anthem for Doomed Youth) personally I find when he’s writing about being back at home, or dealing with the mental impacts of war (of which he suffered from personally), his writing is much stronger and more in his element. For example, the poem Disabled tackling with the isolation, both mental from no one being able to empathise with the soldier, except “a solemn man”, and physical, has such a strong message that will follow me much more than the illustrations of blood and gore that almost blur into one with other poets descriptions of war.
Owen’s poetry will always be distinguished, giving an invaluable insight into the trauma and devastation war brings, applicable to not only its focus of WWI, but also an almost universal description of any trauma or mental impact. I remember a quote from Owen that my English teacher taught my class, “All a poet can do today is warn. That is why the true poet must be truthful.”. Through poems such as Insensibility, Owen most definitely achieved this aim, fully encapsulating the true terror and everlasting legacy that war brings. After reading almost any of his poems I’m reminded that although the war only lasted 4 years, for many, the war never ended.
A list of the best poems in this collection:
- Anthem for Doomed Youth
- Parable of the Old Men and the Young
- Insensibility
- Dulce et Decorum est
- S.I.W.
- Disabled
- Apologia pro Poemate Meo
I studied WWI poetry at sixth form and after reading three of Owen’s poems (Dulce, Anthem and Exposure) I went ahead and read some other poems by him. After that adventure, I’d established that my favourite Wilfred Owen poem is S.I.W., closely followed by Disabled and then Anthem for Doomed Youth.
This poetry anthology introduced me to some new poems I hadn’t known before, take Parable and Apologia, and they’ve made themselves onto my favourites list for Owen.
As a young person in the digital age, being constantly surrounded by media highlighting wars and travesties in other countries, I can often be highly ignorant to past wars. I find myself comparing the struggles of each individual war, or asking the question ‘which is worse’, which is completely disgusting and flippant, as each individual suffering is equally as important and valid as another. In turn, when I read war poems detailing the physical anguish, I tend to almost read past them, knowing that there are hundreds of people going through that exact thing this very moment, and it doesn’t quite have the emotional levity I expect it once held.
Personally, Owens is my favourite poet due to his ability to really highlight the emotional distress war causes. While I would agree that Owens detailing of the horrors of war is magnificent (such as in Anthem for Doomed Youth) personally I find when he’s writing about being back at home, or dealing with the mental impacts of war (of which he suffered from personally), his writing is much stronger and more in his element. For example, the poem Disabled tackling with the isolation, both mental from no one being able to empathise with the soldier, except “a solemn man”, and physical, has such a strong message that will follow me much more than the illustrations of blood and gore that almost blur into one with other poets descriptions of war.
Owen’s poetry will always be distinguished, giving an invaluable insight into the trauma and devastation war brings, applicable to not only its focus of WWI, but also an almost universal description of any trauma or mental impact. I remember a quote from Owen that my English teacher taught my class, “All a poet can do today is warn. That is why the true poet must be truthful.”. Through poems such as Insensibility, Owen most definitely achieved this aim, fully encapsulating the true terror and everlasting legacy that war brings. After reading almost any of his poems I’m reminded that although the war only lasted 4 years, for many, the war never ended.
January 21, 2019
‘Above all I am not concerned with Poetry. My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity.’
Arguably the greatest war time poet of all time Owen managed to articulate the brutal horror, desperation and total devastation of The Great War through the most beautiful words in the English language. The greatest tragedy being that Wilfred Owen was killed one week before the end of the war. His family received news of his passing on Armistice day as the country celebrated peace and victory. He was 25 years old.
Arguably the greatest war time poet of all time Owen managed to articulate the brutal horror, desperation and total devastation of The Great War through the most beautiful words in the English language. The greatest tragedy being that Wilfred Owen was killed one week before the end of the war. His family received news of his passing on Armistice day as the country celebrated peace and victory. He was 25 years old.
October 28, 2019
On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 the bells rang out across Europe for the end of the war. As the armistice bells rang a knock came on the door of Wilfred Owen’s parents. He had been killed on the 7th but the telegram only arrived an hour into peacetime when his family thought he had survived.
His poetry endures to give a voice to all those who lie on the Somme and in Flanders for eternity. The Great War in all its futility and horror is seen most clearly through Owen’s words and he will endure forever as the greatest of the poets of that war.
His poetry endures to give a voice to all those who lie on the Somme and in Flanders for eternity. The Great War in all its futility and horror is seen most clearly through Owen’s words and he will endure forever as the greatest of the poets of that war.
December 22, 2009
An amazing British poet that really shook things up with his angry verses. He was after all there in the thick of it watching men die all around him, as more were sent to take their place. Owen, Sassoon and Graves are all worth reading to express the hell the men had to experience.
January 16, 2020
Poetry G O D
Wilfred Owen is, and will forever be, one of the greatest poetic literary voices we've ever seen. His poems need more recognition.
Wilfred Owen is, and will forever be, one of the greatest poetic literary voices we've ever seen. His poems need more recognition.
September 4, 2025
A poignant, haunting collection of poems, many of which were written during what was supposed to be the war to end all wars. They are made all the more bittersweet by the fact that Owen sadly lost his life fighting in the Great War. 🌺
February 22, 2024
best thing about A level literature
September 8, 2016
The poetry is in the Pity. Here it's not just "the monstrous anger of the guns." but Owens empathy for his comrades (and even his enemies) that make this the most effective anti-war poetry ever written. At a time when war had fully industrialized, Owen's poems bring a human reaction to an inhuman situation. For example his poem "With an Identity Disc" evokes a number of reactions; a reaction to Britain's first full scale implementation of dog tags, the individual soldier's desire to be remembered and not just a nameless victim, and the war in which Britain first commemorated an "unknown soldier." I was amazed at a recent documentary that stated in one cemetery, fully three quarters of the soldiers at rest in that "foreign field" were unknowns.
From "The Last Laugh", Owen's Onomatopoeia of horrors, the images continue through such classics as Disabled, Dulce Et Decorum Est, The Sentry, S.I.W., Futility, Strange Meeting, Spring Offensive, Anthem for Doomed Youth, Mental Cases, and Insensibility
What's amazing is that over half of Owen's poems were written while Owen was in hospital being treated for shell shock.
It's also oddly poignant that he was killed in November 1918 just over a week before the Armistice. His mother received the news just as her neighbors were receiving the news that the war was over.
From "The Last Laugh", Owen's Onomatopoeia of horrors, the images continue through such classics as Disabled, Dulce Et Decorum Est, The Sentry, S.I.W., Futility, Strange Meeting, Spring Offensive, Anthem for Doomed Youth, Mental Cases, and Insensibility
What's amazing is that over half of Owen's poems were written while Owen was in hospital being treated for shell shock.
It's also oddly poignant that he was killed in November 1918 just over a week before the Armistice. His mother received the news just as her neighbors were receiving the news that the war was over.
January 21, 2020
Nothing in this volume is as poetic as Owen's letter to Sigfried Sassoon. "You did not light me; I was always a mad comet; but you have fixed me." That one. My problem is I went into it expecting that, or something to equal Sassoon, and it's neither. Is it good on its own terms? It has its moments, but I suspect I will remember none of these poems in six months, whereas I often come back to that letter and think 'THAT is the definition of love'.
(Maybe it would have worked for me if they were love poems, not war poems. Ho hum.)
I saw his mouth's round crimson:
"And in his eyes
The cold stars lighting, very old and bleak,
In different skies."
The Next War:
"We laughed, - knowing that better men would come,
And greater wars: when every fighter brags
He fights on death, for lives; not men, for flags."
Mental Cases is an example of why this doesn't land. It's too fancy for the subject matter.
"Who are these? Why sit they here in twilight?
Wherefore rock they, purgatorial shadows,
Drooping tongues from jaws that slob their relish,
Baring teeth that leer like skulls' teeth wicked?"
Just ... no.
Favourites: Has your soul sipped; Apologia Pro Poemate Meo; The Parable of the Old Man and the Young; Soldier's Dream; Beauty; Preface.
(Maybe it would have worked for me if they were love poems, not war poems. Ho hum.)
I saw his mouth's round crimson:
"And in his eyes
The cold stars lighting, very old and bleak,
In different skies."
The Next War:
"We laughed, - knowing that better men would come,
And greater wars: when every fighter brags
He fights on death, for lives; not men, for flags."
Mental Cases is an example of why this doesn't land. It's too fancy for the subject matter.
"Who are these? Why sit they here in twilight?
Wherefore rock they, purgatorial shadows,
Drooping tongues from jaws that slob their relish,
Baring teeth that leer like skulls' teeth wicked?"
Just ... no.
Favourites: Has your soul sipped; Apologia Pro Poemate Meo; The Parable of the Old Man and the Young; Soldier's Dream; Beauty; Preface.
January 11, 2013
It's not often I find myself immersed in poetry, but this collection written by Wilfred Owen has left me dizzy with admiration toward his vivid imagery and general intellect. These poems don't hide anything about the tragedies and haunting realities of War; as Owen says himself, "My subject is War, and the pities of War. The poetry is in the pity.". His poetry differs on topics - some are written to point out the inhumanity of War, some are written to highlight the madness and mentality of everyday life on the Western Front - but no matter what, the poems are sure to affect you one way or another. It saddens me to think of the poet's death just days before the signing of the Armistice but perhaps it means that he's found an answer to the question posed with his poem 'The End'.
Dead or alive, this man has written a book of beautiful poetry, and I feel that it has made an indelible impression on me. I wish I could fully articulate my love for this outstanding collection, and the outstanding Wilfred Owen.
Dead or alive, this man has written a book of beautiful poetry, and I feel that it has made an indelible impression on me. I wish I could fully articulate my love for this outstanding collection, and the outstanding Wilfred Owen.
May 5, 2020
@ have a question for all@
Wilfred Owen said, 'My subject is war, and the pity of war'. did you think his poem about war and violence is unusual for literature????????
Wilfred Owen said, 'My subject is war, and the pity of war'. did you think his poem about war and violence is unusual for literature????????
May 3, 2007
Owen, a poet who fought and died in WWI, is best known for "Dulce Et Decorum Est." He is excellent at haunting imagery (“froth corrupted lungs”) and has a good ear (“Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,/But limped on, blood-shod…”). This is the first time I’ve read a poetry book straight through—generally I open pages randomly and read whatever I find, and digest the whole thing over the course of months or even years. This collection is an excellent historical document, but too heavy (and heavy-handed) to read for its own sake.
July 19, 2012
I. Love. Wilfred. Owen. The beauty of his poetry is outstanding, it hits you right where you least expect it. More than one musician has been influenced to set his writings to music; Benjamin Britten in his 'War Requiem' is a good example!
Owen is not an ostentatious poet, like many. His imagery of the war is bold, gruesome, to the extent fearsome. He is definitely the best war poet of his time.
Owen is not an ostentatious poet, like many. His imagery of the war is bold, gruesome, to the extent fearsome. He is definitely the best war poet of his time.
June 17, 2020
This collection is from a wonderful and brilliant poet - they are written with creativity, intelligence and skill and will be remembered long after reading them. Owen is a master in his field and one of the best.
May 23, 2015
I had some of his poems in A Level English when I studied abroad for a year, so I did enjoy quite a few of the poems collected in this book. Hovewer, there were some that I didn't like very much, hence the rating.
June 14, 2010
My favourites were:
With an Identity Disc
The Letter
Dulce Et Decorum Est
Asleep
The Last Laugh
The Chances
The Sentry
Wild with all Regrets
With an Identity Disc
The Letter
Dulce Et Decorum Est
Asleep
The Last Laugh
The Chances
The Sentry
Wild with all Regrets
Read
February 23, 2010Very moving. Paints a picture of the grotesque side of warfare.
July 29, 2012
First encountered the war poets in my teens, no matter how many times I read Dulce et Decorum Est the impact never lessens.
September 2, 2012
Amazing book and poems. Never get tired of reading it!
June 3, 2013
I hate war movies, but Owen has really opened my eyes to war poetry. "Dulce Et Decorum Est" is my absolute favorite, but each and every one of them is amazing.
September 8, 2014
Devastating.
May 22, 2015
This book is the big torch to my little candle.
February 6, 2019
The collection of poems are a unique and emotional perspective on the First World War, with an insightful and well written voice.
March 23, 2020
Not a fan. It’s about war. But still, I didn’t like the writing. Bo ring
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews