Fun Facts Friday: Wilfred Owen

Today, November 4 1918, poet and British Army officer Wilfred Owen was killed in action in France during World War I. Owen was 25 years old.

Books by Wilfred Owen*

Fun Facts about Wilfred Owen

1 ) To this day Owen is thought of as the leading poet of World War I.

2 ) Owen’s poetry was on the horrors of WWI, especially trench warfare and gas warfare.

3 ) Owen’s poetry dates back to 1903 when he was 10 years old.

4 ) The poetry Owen wrote was influenced by John Keats and Percy Byshe Shelley. Later on, his friend and fellow poet Siegfried Sassoon also had a profound effect on Owen’s poetic voice.

5 ) Owen never saw his own worked published other then two magazines.

6 ) Edmund Blunden re-introduced Owens to the public in the 1960s with a renewed interest in poetry.

7 ) Only five of his poems have been published during Owen’s lifetime.

8 ) Enthusiastic at the start of the war, Owen changed his opinion after being in battle.

9 ) Owen was traumatized by two events, suffering shell-shock. He was blown into the air by a mortar and landing in the remains of a fellow officer and was trapped for several days in a German dug out.

10) Wilfred Owen was killed one week before the hostilities ended. As his parents were listening to the bells of the local church celebrating the armistice, the door bell rang with the news every person dreaded.

Books by Wilfred Owen*

Zohar – Man of la Book
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account