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Wilfred Owen

Guy Cuthbertson, MA 1998

One of Britain's best-known and most loved poets, Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) was killed at the age of 25 on one of the last days of the First World War, having acted heroically despite his famous misgivings about the war's rationale and conduct. He left behind a body of poetry that sensitively captured the pity, rage, valour and futility of the conflict. 

In this new biography Guy Cuthbertson provides a fresh account of Owen's life and formative influences: the lower-middle-class childhood he tried to escape; the places he lived in, from Birkenhead to Bordeaux; his class anxieties and his religious doubts; his sexuality and friendships; his close relationship with his mother and his childlike personality. 

Cuthbertson chronicles a great poet's growth to poetic maturity, illuminates the social strata of the extraordinary Edwardian era, and adds rich context to how Owen's enduring verse can be understood. Guy Cuthbertson is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature at Liverpool Hope University See more at: http://yalebooks.co.uk/display.asp?k=9780300153002 http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300153002 'a scintillating biography - for a long time Owen has been set in stone, his poetry ossifying into anti-war cliché but Cuthbertson has made him live again' (Gary Day, Times Higher Education Supplement) 'rarely has a poet been better served than by Guy Cuthbertson's sensitive and beautifully-written account [...] should you purchase this truly lovely and deeply humane book, I guarantee you will read and re-read it - maybe for the rest of your life' (Richard Edmonds, The Birmingham Post and syndicated) 'scrupulous, thoughtful, open-minded, fired with enthusiasm for the poems and respect for the man - a fine biography' (John Sutherland, The Times) 'a very readable and focused biography [...] a vigorous, well-documented narrative, with fresh light to cast on some central themes' (Rowan Williams, The New Statesman) Booklist (American Library Association) Top Ten Biographies of the Year (June 2013-May 2014)

ISBN: 9780300153002

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