Wilfred Owen

LitCharts guides for works by Wilfred Owen

Explore LitCharts poetry guides for works by Wilfred Owen. Each guide offers line-by-line analysis, exploration of poetic devices, and helpful resources for studying Wilfred Owen's poetry.

1914

"1914" is a sonnet by the British poet and soldier Wilfred Owen about the outbreak of World War I. The poem laments the destructiveness of war and compares the rise and fall of Western civilization... view guide

Anthem for Doomed Youth

"Anthem for Doomed Youth" was written by British poet Wilfred Owen in 1917, while Owen was in the hospital recovering from injuries and trauma resulting from his military service during World War I... view guide

Disabled

"Disabled" was written by Wilfred Owen, one of the most famous British poets to emerge from World War I. The poem focuses on an injured soldier in the aftermath of that very same war. Still quite y... view guide

Dulce et Decorum Est

"Dulce et Decorum Est" is a poem by the English poet Wilfred Owen. Like most of Owen's work, it was written between August 1917 and September 1918, while he was fighting in World War 1. Owen is kno... view guide

Exposure

"Exposure" is a poem written by the English poet and soldier Wilfred Owen. Owen wrote "Exposure" in 1918, but it wasn't published until 1920, after Owen's death in World War I. Like most of Owen's ... view guide

Futility

"Futility" is a poem by Wilfred Owen, a British soldier during World War I. Written in 1918, the poem elegizes an unnamed soldier lying dead in the snow in France. This image resonates with the poe... view guide

Mental Cases

"Mental Cases" was written by the British poet and WWI soldier Wilfred Owen, who was killed in action in November 1918. As with much of Owen's poetry, "Mental Cases" focuses on the horrors of war, ... view guide

Spring Offensive

"Spring Offensive" (1918) describes the German Spring Offensive of 1918, a bloody series of battles near the close of World War I. It focuses on the experience of a particular army in a particular ... view guide

Strange Meeting

“Strange Meeting” was written by the British poet Wilfred Owen. A soldier in the First World War, Owen wrote “Strange Meeting” sometime during 1918 while serving on the Western Front (though the po... view guide

The Next War

"The Next War" is a sonnet written in 1917 by British poet and World War I soldier Wilfred Owen, while he was being treated for shell shock (now referred to as posttraumatic stress disorder, or PTS... view guide