#leads many people to interpret this as one of Owens more explicitly gay poems

[apoemadaykeepsthehoesaway]

How Do I Love Thee?

-Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)

I cannot woo thee as the lion his mate,

With proud parade and fierce prestige of presence;

Nor thy fleet fancy may I captivate

With pastoral attitudes in flowery pleasance;

Nor will I kneeling court thee with sedate

And comfortable plans of husbandhood;

Nor file before thee as a candidate….

I cannot woo thee as a lover would.

~

To wrest thy hand from rivals, iron-gloved,

Or cheat them by a craft, I am not clever.

But I do love thee even as Shakespeare loved,

Most gently wild, and desperately for ever,

Full-hearted, grave, and manfully in vain,

With thought, high pain, and ever vaster pain.

#naturally the title is derived of Elizabeth Browning’s ‘how do I love thee? let me count the ways’ #the info that the first few pages of this were missing - potentially a result of censorship by Wilfred’s brother Harold #leads many people to interpret this as one of Owens more explicitly gay poems #many editors reference this poem as one of Owens earlier works from around 1914 HOWEVER #others such as Jon Stallworthy believe at least the final draft of this poem to be dated closer to 1917 #which honestly makes sense to me as it doesn’t really come across like too much of his later or much earlier works so middle ground #feels right to me. but hey I’m not a historian #anyways I hope you enjoyed #it’s a very typical/traditional sonnet which honestly contributed so much to my personal interpretation of this as a queer poem #like come on #it’s right there! (imo) #poetry #ww1 #war poetry #wilfred owen #love poem #remembrance #grief