In this new biography Guy Cuthbertson provides a fresh account of Owen's life and formative influences: the lower-middle-class childhood he tried to escape; the places he lived in, from Birkenhead to Bordeaux; his class anxieties and his religious doubts; his sexuality and friendships; his close relationship with his mother and his childlike personality. 

Cuthbertson chronicles a great poet's growth to poetic maturity, illuminates the social strata of the extraordinary Edwardian era, and adds rich context to how Owen's enduring verse can be understood. Guy Cuthbertson is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature at Liverpool Hope University See more at: http://yalebooks.co.uk/display.asp?k=9780300153002 http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300153002 'a scintillating biography - for a long time Owen has been set in stone, his poetry ossifying into anti-war cliché but Cuthbertson has made him live again' (Gary Day, Times Higher Education Supplement) 'rarely has a poet been better served than by Guy Cuthbertson's sensitive and beautifully-written account [...] should you purchase this truly lovely and deeply humane book, I guarantee you will read and re-read it - maybe for the rest of your life' (Richard Edmonds, The Birmingham Post and syndicated) 'scrupulous, thoughtful, open-minded, fired with enthusiasm for the poems and respect for the man - a fine biography' (John Sutherland, The Times) 'a very readable and focused biography [...] a vigorous, well-documented narrative, with fresh light to cast on some central themes' (Rowan Williams, The New Statesman) Booklist (American Library Association) Top Ten Biographies of the Year (June 2013-May 2014)