Published 07/02/2019
Client: Martin Impey (illustrator)
Book title: Dulce et Decorum Est
Sector: Book publishing
Content Used: The original hand-written poem Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen, from the British Library
First Published: 25th October 2018
Publisher: Strauss House Productions
Award-winning illustrator, Martin Impey, has published a book illustrating Wilfred Owen's most renowned poems. Impey skilfully executes not only the imagery that Owen creates in words, but also the sentiment, ie that there is no glory in war, or in death.
Wilfred Owen's poem was referred to by him as his "gas poem". It describes the gruesome effects of gas, conveying the true horrors of war. The title Dulce et Decorum Est is taken from a poem by the Ancient Roman poet Horace, which translates as "it is sweet and fitting ..." which in the original poem is followed by "pro patria mori", which means "to die for one's country".
Bridgeman Images provided photography of Wilfred Owen's handwritten poem from the British Library, which he penned in 1917 during his stay at the Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh (it was published posthumously in 1920).
According to the British Library, these works also show the hand of Wilfred Owen's fellow war poet and patient at the Craiglockhart Hospital, Siegfried Sassoon, who would pencil in suggestions.
Martin Impey's visceral illustrations brilliantly illustrate the horrors that Wilfred Owen conveyed in his poem, and are beautifully reproduced in the book.
Bridgeman Images represents the British Library exclusively in the UK. Please contact us to find out more about licensing images from the British Library.
Find out more
See more WWI poetry material in the Bridgeman Images archive
Explore material from the British Library
Read more about these Wilfred Owen Manuscripts on the British Library website
Watch Martin Impey creating one of his watercolour illustrations for the book
Buy Martin Impey's book
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