The Poems of Wilfred Owen (Paperback)

~ (Author), (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Derived from Jon Stallworthy's two-volume Complete Poems and Fragments (1983)—described as a "triumph" (Times Literary Supplement) and "a definitive text" (Los Angeles Times)—this is the finest single-volume edition of the work of the greatest poet of the First World War. Of all the work bequeathed by to us by that generation of young men who fought in the trenches, Owen's is the most remarkable for its breadth of sympathy and its understanding of human suffering and tenderness, at home and on the battlefield.

This new, authoritative edition, indispensable to student and general reader alike, contains the texts of 103 poems and twelve fragments, among them thirty-three poems not previously published or otherwise available in paperback edition. Many of the most famous have important new readings; illuminating notes and a detailed biographical table are also included.

About the Author

Jon Stallworthy (M.A. and B.Litt. Oxford) is Senior Research Fellow at Wolfson College of Oxford University, where he is also Professor of English Literature. He is also the former John Wendell Anderson Professor at Cornell, where he taught after a career at Oxford University Press. His biography of Wilfred Owen won the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize, the W. H. Smith Literary Award, and the E. M. Forster Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His biography of Louis MacNeice won the Southern Arts Literary Prize. He is also the author of Rounding the Horn: Collected Poems and Singing School: The Making of a Poet and he is the editor of the definitive edition of Wilfred Owen’s poetry, The Complete Poems and Fragments; The Penguin Book of Love Poetry; and The Oxford Book of War Poetry. Stallworthy has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and is a fellow of the British Academy and the Royal Society of Literature.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. (October 17, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393303853
• ISBN-13: 978-0393303858
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #801,486 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #3 in

  Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( O ) > Owen, Wilfred

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Truth About WWI, April 5, 2000

By A Customer

This touching collection of poetry stems from the horrors of Owen's own experiences at the front. From his grim, visual and detailed description of a man dying of poison gas, to his conspiracy theories of the real reasons behind the war, Owen uncovers the old lie and disproves it right before our eyes: Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patria Mori...

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not to be missed, April 19, 2000

By	Sergio Flores (Orange, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Indeed, this is a book not to be missed by those who love poetry. Owen's verses are mostly gut-wrenching lines that will burn images in your brain, but that is good, particularly next to other poems that we may have been familiar with, where the idea of war is an "ideal" and soldiers are knights who know no fear, who are immune to death and pain. Owen's war is different: the men die like rats in the trenches, in their own vomit, and glory and honor are not enough to protect agaist mustard gas. That the poet perished in that war is only a final irony in the short life of a sensitive man who saw too much in too short a time. Excellent.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sublime, April 19, 2000

By	"moneill64" (Scotland) - See all my reviews

I have loved Wilfred Owen's poetry since school days.His exquisite use of language vividly conjures up the horrors of war where young men had no choice in their fate and highlighted the social context in which WWW1 took place. Very moving.