What inspired Wilfred Owen to write the poem 'Disabled'?

The poem 'Disabled' was written while its author was a patient at Craiglockhart War Hospital in Scotland. Owen had been sent to Craiglockhart after being diagnosed with 'neurasthenia' ('shell-shock'). It was here that he met his fellow poet Siegfried Sassoon, who was also a patient. read more

Wilfred Edward Salter Owen (1893-1918) was born to Thomas and Susan Owen on the 18th of March 1893 near Oswestry, Shropshire. Upon the death of Owens's grandfather in 1897, the Owen family were forced to move from the house he had owned in Oswestry to lodgings in Birkenhead (1898), Merseyside, and it was in the Birkenhead Institute that Owen's education began. read more

I will compare the poems ‘Disabled’ and ‘Mental Cases’ for my essay. I will look at the language that Wilfred Owen uses to convey the pain and hurt that war causes. I will also endeavour to examine how the poet expresses his outrage at the effect of the war in both poems. read more

Wilfred Owen’s powerful anti-war poem ‘Disabled’ (1917) was republished in the Guardian newspaper on November 13 2008, as part of the newspaper’s seven-day focus on aspects of the First World War. read more