Wilfred Owen – A Requiem for War

To mark the centenary of the death of one of our most celebrated poets, Wilfred Owen (18th March, 1893 – 4th November, 1918), killed one week before Armistice Day, this haunting portrait by Richard Willson.

This caricature-study illustrates perfectly a cartoonist’s oft-overlooked capacity for pathos; the subject’s wistful gaze, against a backdrop of cratered earth and flying missiles, perhaps contemplating “The old lie: dulce et decorum est pro patria mori“, and reminding us that his heroism (he had been awarded the Military Cross for gallantry just one month before), and his self-sacrifice meant he far exceeded his own sentiment that “All a poet can do today is warn”.

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