Wilfred Owen - detail by Jamie
In Bordeaux, the city of South West
France, arrived the French capital -
To swell from September 1914,
By fifty thousand people - An exiled
Government escaping the German
Advance on Paris, as smart Parisians
Made occupation of the city streets.
Amid them, returned one English man,
Wilfred Owen - from close of a summer
Spent in the Gailleste valley – with his
Summer’s post complete, the teacher
Had two options - find freelance work
Or return home to an England at war.
Matters changed rapidly by a second
Month of war – Owen's hope to take
Courses ended, with universities
Acquisition for military needs - then
A path took new direction as Owen's
Shifted from Ledgers to Lem's family.
Given two weeks grace in household
Of the Lems, Owen had the chance
To sort and lengthen his French stay.
With Paris coming to Bordeaux
Unfolding days could bring excitement
Even offer the chance of new contacts.
Reminders of war were all about - one
Result being the offer of private tuition
To the nephew of a Senior General.
With employment secured, Owen in
Employ of a donkey cart, conveyed
Ownership of his three trunks to a new
Home as he settled into another venture.
Mid October found this professor
Of elocution seated before a Louis XV
Bureau - beside a large window to let
In plentiful light – days of teaching
Led him out to homes pupils - this
Occupation occupied a poet's mind.
From a past summer's experiences -
Of Bagneres teaching vacation -
Owen had woken to self-awareness.
From pupil Mmes open suggestions
And Tailhade's poetry of attentions
Working to stir his romantic obsession.
Romanticism had invaded the young
Teacher’s mind, in underlying desire
Of decadence and Romantic Agony -
To bubble below the surface – then
November news came of Tailhade
Suddenly shouldering a rifle prompting
Thought how he might enlist to fight.
Owen's letters toyed with ideas of how
If England were truly threatened, that
He would have no hesitation to join.
With autumn's end Paris was freed
Of danger – but any return to England
Held risks of German infested seas –
Yet another pupil prompted his stay.
Assigned with pupils to teach and guide,
The de la Touche boys proved worthy -
As he told his mother that on his return
His future would be discussed with her -
Or a recruiting sergeant. Meanwhile
Further lodgings beckoned in bargain -
Free lodging exchanged for supervision.
Now led Wilfred Owen to Rue Desfourniel.
His time now planned out for four months -
Owen, at home with the boys, would take
Them shooting in woods – the still air
Echoed with training sounds of artillery
Or the flight of a plane above them.
With the new year of 1915, he might
Make plenty of money - he confessed
At the cost of his soul – others thought
Him aimless - still Owen kept his secrets.
Owen had felt, after experiences of religion,
That an only course for him was as poet -
Being 'the fullest, largest, liveable life.'
In reaction to his neglect of this subject
Set him to work an idea of a long poem,
In the story of Perseus - A hero born
Of a mother's confinement, a tale to take
Long allegorical walks in dark woods -
There, a desire of Perseus reflected war.
Its Completion though remained a dream.
With self reflection, perhaps for Owen
Such an epic could only be about poetry,
Sexuality and unavoidably war's subject.
An unwritten script populated with cures,
Formed decadent ideas, classical statues
And Greek love - all stayed a fragment.
The project remained in the poet's mind
But as a resource for future compositions
And underlying imagery - the Perseus epic
By Owen, fragmented by surviving family.
Possibly deciphering likely undertones
Of blurred beasts in a war poet's book.
Hibberd, D., 2002. Wilfred Owen –
A New Biography. London. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Ch 9.
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WWWilfredOwen
No comments:
Post a Comment