Owen and Sassoon

Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, both suffering from shell shock, were sent to convalesce at Craiglockhart hospital in Edinburgh in 1917. Owen, who referred to himself as the 'poet's poet' was unpublished at the time. It was the influence and encouragement of Sassoon during this period that shaped Owen's work. Sassoon was also instrumental in publishing Owen's work posthumously after the war. Here for the first time, collected in a single volume are the poems, written in Edinburgh, of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. These Edinburgh poems highlight the significance of the time these poets spent together in and around the city.

Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) was one of the leading poets of the First World War. His war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare was much influenced by his mentor Siegfried Sassoon and stood in contrast to the public perception of war at the time and to the confidently patriotic verse written by earlier war poets such as Rupert Brooke.