Comments on: Wilfred Owen In Shadwell https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/11/12/wilfred-owen-at-shadwell-stair-x/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Mon, 12 Nov 2018 12:27:05 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: Helen Breen https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/11/12/wilfred-owen-at-shadwell-stair-x/#comment-1237452 Mon, 12 Nov 2018 12:27:05 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=170334#comment-1237452 Greetings from Boston,

GA, fine piece and I love that evocative photo of the Shadwell stairs descending down into the Thames. Adding another favorite Owen poem for our reflection…

Anthem for Doomed Youth

BY WILFRED OWEN

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
— Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,—
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.

What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

]]> By: pauline taylor https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/11/12/wilfred-owen-at-shadwell-stair-x/#comment-1237447 Mon, 12 Nov 2018 12:04:23 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=170334#comment-1237447 Thank you GA, after all the memories of yesterday this is another one for me as my great grandmother’s brother, John McGrath, was born in Shadwell and I believe that my great grandmother, Jane McGrath must have been born there too although I have not discovered her baptism. The history of this area, beside the Thames, fascinates me and I am, at the moment, listening to Irish music to keep in touch with my roots in Ireland. To think that my great grandmother may have run up and down Shadwell stairs is sometimes hard to come to grips with for someone born and brought up in the depths of the Essex countryside.

]]> By: Phil maxwell https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/11/12/wilfred-owen-at-shadwell-stair-x/#comment-1237441 Mon, 12 Nov 2018 11:24:15 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=170334#comment-1237441 Not read this poem before. Thanks for publishing it. In reply to Alex Knisely, Wilfred Owen was gay according to his biographer Domonic Hibberd. His close friend Siegfried Sassoon was also gay. Shadwell Basin and the docks in general were known places for men to meet other men. I suspect Owen’s interest in Shadwell basin went beyond observing shipping on the Thames.

]]> By: Juliet Wrightson https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/11/12/wilfred-owen-at-shadwell-stair-x/#comment-1237400 Mon, 12 Nov 2018 08:21:32 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=170334#comment-1237400 What a great and fitting tribute today after the commemorations of yesterday. Thank you Gentle Author.

]]> By: Valerie-Jael https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/11/12/wilfred-owen-at-shadwell-stair-x/#comment-1237394 Mon, 12 Nov 2018 07:20:41 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=170334#comment-1237394 Good poem. I fell into the water from those stairs as a kid and nearly drowned, so I am rather wary of them! Valerie

]]> By: Alex Knisely https://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/11/12/wilfred-owen-at-shadwell-stair-x/#comment-1237386 Mon, 12 Nov 2018 06:47:53 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=170334#comment-1237386 “I with another ghost am lain” — was Owen homosexual, was Shadwell Stair a site known as one where homosexuals might rendezvous? Thank you for your postings. I learn much through them.

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