La Maison forestière was created in 2011, being the work of British artist Simon Patterson helped by the architect Jean-Christophe Denise. It is dedicated to the work of the poet Wilfred Owen, and inside the house (closed at the year of our visit) are Owen's poems on the walls. The cellar, where he wrote his last letter to his mother, has been kept intact. Owen spent his last night here.
Owen was killed on 4 November 1918 while trying to cross the Sambre canal which goes through Ors: his parents learned of his death on 11 November, after armistice had been declared. An interpretation panel here says that Owen's work in general can be seen as an 'Anthem to Doomed Youth'.
Very, very weirdly, the Bureau de Tourisme Cambresis says Owen, although unknown in France, is the most researched poet in the UK after Shakespeare. Yeah, keep taking the tablets.
Wilfred Owen is buried in Ors Communal Cemetery.
On the way to Ors British Cemetery we found a herd of cows, clustering together as if for protection. None of them seemed particularly happy, and I thought of them somehow knowing what their fate will be, just like the innocent soldiers going to war knew what their fate would be. Working-class soldiers reared to be slaughtered, cattle too, what's the difference? No point in arguing that animals don't produce poetry: these creatures are poetry.
Owen was killed on 4 November 1918 while trying to cross the Sambre canal which goes through Ors: his parents learned of his death on 11 November, after armistice had been declared. An interpretation panel here says that Owen's work in general can be seen as an 'Anthem to Doomed Youth'.
Very, very weirdly, the Bureau de Tourisme Cambresis says Owen, although unknown in France, is the most researched poet in the UK after Shakespeare. Yeah, keep taking the tablets.
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