These introductions to Wilfred Owen's poems are, in the words of the author Ken Simcox*, "not intended to be scholarly essays". They were written over ten years ago, when the Wilfred Owen Association's website was first launched by former Treasurer Philip Guest, because Philip felt that such introductions might succeed in promoting interest in Owen and his work. The number of hits year after year has proved the case.
Sadly Ken Simcox passed away in July 2010. He was Secretary of the Wilfred Owen Association for six years, and these commentaries spring from his lifelong liking for poetry. He is the author of Wilfred Owen: Anthem for a Doomed Youth. The Association is extremely grateful to Ken for his contribution to this website.
*In addition to Ken's critiques, a small number of poems have been reviewed on this website by other authors.
Other titles discussing Owen's work include Dominic Hibberd's Owen the Poet, Dennis Welland's Wilfred Owen : A Critical Study, Douglas Kerr's Wilfred Owen's Voices and the recently published Wilfred Owen: Selected Poems and Letters.
For the collected poems see Owen, W. (1983) Wilfred Owen: The Complete Poems and Fragments/ edited by John Stallworthy, London: Chatto & Windus
Read Wilfred Owen's manuscripts online at the First World War Poetry Digital Archive
You can access a range of resources to support the teaching and learning of Owen's poetry, and the work of other WW1 poets, through the First World War Poetry Digital Archive's Education Area
Students can join the Wilfred Owen Association from just £12.
Voices in War video Dr Dominic Hibberd and Professor Jon Stallworthy talk about Wilfred Owen in an extract from a film made for the Voices Education Project.
The First World War Poetry Digital Archive is an online repository of over 7000 items of text, images, audio, and video for teaching, learning, and research. The heart of the archive consists of collections of highly valued primary material from major poets of the period, including Wilfred Owen.
