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The context in which a poem was written can sometimes tell you more about its themes, message and meaning.

Some questions you might ask include:

• Are aspects of the poet’s life reflected in the poem?
• Is the time or place in which it was written reflected in the poem?
• Does the reader need knowledge or understanding of significant events to understand the poem’s real meaning or message?

You will need to research the poet’s background to discover answers to these questions. But if you do write about a poem and its context, be careful to include only details that reveal something about the poem.

Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Edward Salter Owen was born on 18 March 1893 in Oswestry, Shropshire.

He began writing poetry as a teenager

At around 18 years of age Owen became an unpaid lay assistant to a Church of England vicar in Oxfordshire. He assisted with the care of the poor and sick in the parish. It was during this time that he lost faith in the church to support people in need. This is a theme running through Anthem for Doomed Youth as he shows his disillusionment at religion and the associated ceremonies.

In 1913 he went to France for two years to work as a language tutor.

In 1915 he returned to England to enlist in the army and was commissioned into the Manchester Regiment. After spending the remainder of the year training in England, he left for the Western Front in early January 1917.

Owen had first-hand experience of the horrors of war and life in the trenches. After surviving heavy fighting, he was diagnosed with shellshock - the term used then to describe what is now referred to as post-traumatic stress disorder. He was evacuated to England and arrived at Craiglockhart War Hospital near Edinburgh in June 1917.

Here he met the poet Siegfried Sassoon, whose work Owen admired very much. The two became friends, and with Sassoon’s influence and encouragement Owen developed into a confident talented poet.

Anthem for Doomed Youth was written in 1917 while Owen was at Craiglockhart. A handwritten draft of the poem survives on which Owen has written, “With Sassoon’s amendments”. The title of the poem was Sassoon’s suggestion.

Owen returned to France in August 1918 and in October was awarded the Military Cross for bravery.

He was killed on 4 November 1918 while attempting to lead his men across the Sambre canal at Ors. The news of his death reached his parents on 11 November, Armistice Day, when the world was celebrating the end of the war.