Wilfred Edward Salter, born on March 18, 1893, in the village of Oswestry in Shropshire, England, was the eldest son of a minor railway official. Educated at the Birkenhead Institute and at Shrewsbury Technical College, Owen matriculated in 1911 but without the honors necessary to enter a university. Like his mother, to whom he was quite close, Owen was religious and even considered pursuing a career in the church. In 1911-12, he worked as an unpaid lay assistant to a vicar in the poor country parish of Dunsden, where he taught Bible classes, led prayer meetings, and attended missionary gatherings. Owen meanwhile began to compose poetry. After suffering a serious illness in 1913, Owen left to teach English in Bordeaux, France, and was there when World War I broke out. Owen eventually enlisted in the army, which led to his fighting as an officer at the western front in 1917. Hospitalized for some months with “shell shock,” Owen met the war poet, Siegfried Sassoon, whose realistic verse deeply influenced Owen’s own work. Continuing to write poetry, Owen returned to the army in November 1917, serving with distinction—he received the Military Cross.
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