The Dead-Beat

It deals with the atrocities of World War I. Owen developed the poem while he was a patient at Craiglockhart, a hospital for officers suffering with mental illness.

[1] It was here that he met fellow poet Siegfried Sassoon and where his personal psychological healing from the traumas of war.

[3] Owen described the experience in a letter in which he suggested that the middle sections needed work.

'"[4] Pat Barker, in her novel Regeneration, describes a fictitious workshop between the poets based on this letter.

[3] In particular, "The Dead-Beat" depicts how war can isolate rather than unite individuals who share common causes or experiences.