Arms & the Boy: The Poetry of Wilfred Owen

by Wilfred Owen, Keith Hale (Introduction)

Overview

Wilfred Owen was a Shropshire lad, born in Oswestry. He is regarded by many to have been the greatest British poet of the Twentieth Century despite living only to the age of twenty-five. Certainly, he is considered the best of the war poets, and there is no denying that what makes his poetry so powerful is his ability to combine the elegiac form with a deep-felt love for his subjects. His horror at seeing what bullets and shrapnel can do to a beautiful male body is made powerful in his verse precisely by his attention to the body. His mentioning of specific body parts is effective, as is his personification of the machinery of war. He writes of bullet-heads that "long to muzzle in the hearts of lads," and of "a boy's murdered mouth," and "hearts made great by shot." In doing so, the outrage of war intermingles with eroticism to produce a powerful emotion in the reader.

Watersgreen House is an independent international book publisher with editorial staff in the UK and USA. One of our aims at Watersgreen House is to showcase same-sex affection in works by important gay and bisexual authors in ways which were not possible at the time the books were originally published. We also publish nonfiction, including textbooks, as well as contemporary fiction that is literary, unusual, and provocative. watersgreen.wixsite.com/watersgreenhouse

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781668585009
Publisher:	Barnes & Noble Press
Publication date:	10/18/2021
Pages:	84
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.31(d)

About the Author

Wilfred Owen was a Shropshire lad, born in Oswestry. He is regarded by many to have been the greatest British poet of the Twentieth Century despite living only to the age of twenty-five. Certainly, he is considered the best of the war poets, and there is no denying that what makes his poetry so powerful is his ability to combine the elegiac form with a deep-felt love for his subjects. His horror at seeing what bullets and shrapnel can do to a beautiful male body is made powerful in his verse precisely by his attention to the body. His mentioning of specific body parts is effective, as is his personification of the machinery of war. He writes of bullet-heads that “long to muzzle in the hearts of lads,” and of “a boy’s murdered mouth,” and “hearts made great by shot.” In doing so, the outrage of war intermingles with eroticism to produce a powerful emotion in the reader.

Keith Hale grew up in central Arkansas and Waco, Texas. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Following a five-year career as a journalist in Austin, Amsterdam, and Little Rock, Hale earned a Ph.D. in literature from Purdue and took a position teaching British and Philippine literature at the University of Guam. Hale writes both fiction and scholarly works including his groundbreaking novel Clicking Beat on the Brink of Nada (Cody), first published in the Netherlands, and Friends and Apostles, his edition of Rupert Brooke's letters published by Yale University Press, London.