The finest English-language poet of the First World War, Owen served on the Western Front, was shell-shocked, and returned to the trenches after treatment. His poems — Dulce et Decorum Est, Strange Meeting, Anthem for Doomed Youth — fused classical form with brutal imagery to expose the reality of industrial warfare. He was killed in action crossing the Sambre Canal one week before the Armistice. The bells were ringing for peace when his mother received the telegram.

• Nationality: GB
• Roles: poet