http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpf4jbfsQyQ
A poem by Shropshire-born war poet Wilfred Owen has been chosen by the Prime Minister as his favourite verse to commemorate this year’s National Poetry Day.
David Cameron’s choice for the day, on October 7, is Dulce et Decorum Est. He reveals that his introduction to Owen’s First World War poetry has had a lasting impression on him.
The PM told Radio Times magazine: “I still remember the first time I read Owen’s poems and the incredible power and anger about the First World War. For me, they were literally an eye-opener, and I still find them moving.”
Wilfred Owen was born the eldest of four children at Plas Wilmot in Oswestry on March 18 1893. Four years later the family moved to Birkenhead and then to Shrewsbury where Owen attended the Shrewsbury Technical School, now The Wakeman School.
In contrast to Mr Cameron’s choice for National Poetry Day, his deputy Nick Clegg’s favourite verse is Eternity by William Blake.
He said: “My poetry hero is William Blake, partially because he’s so hard to classify as a poet.”
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