Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Owen (March 18, 1893 – November 4, 1918)) was a British poet who is famous for works that invoke the horror of war as well as the beauty of boys.
Biography
Owen was born on 18 March, 1893, and moved to Bordeaux, France at the age of 20. There, he taught English at the Berlitz School of Languages, and after a year became a private tutor. During this time, he wrote poems about the boys he tutored, as well as those he met while travelling. He joined the military during World War I, and was wounded after four months of fighting. At the urging of poet Siegfried Sassoon, he began writing poems about the experience of war, while in the hospital. After Owen recovered, he rejoined the fighting, where he was killed in action on 4 November, 1918, a week before the end of the Great War.
Famous works
Several excerpts from his poems were used by Benjamin Britten in 1962, as the setting for his famous piece, War Requiem.
