Rupert Brooke (1887-1915) was educated at Rugby and King's College, Cambridge. His first book of verse, Poems, was published in 1911. When World War I broke out, he joined the Royal Naval Division and died on the way to Gallipoli in 1915.

Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) began writing poetry as a teenager and became an English teacher in France. During World War I he fought on the Somme, was awarded the Military Cross and was killed just before the war ended.