In August of 1917, the patients at Craiglockhart were joined by another soldier poet, Siegfried Sassoon. Although sharing a love of poetry, it took Owen two weeks to pluck up the courage to introduce himself to Sassoon. Sassoon and Owen would meet almost every day, Owen would occasionally hang around Mortonhall Golf Club where Sassoon regularly played, waiting for him to complete his round, sometimes they would meet in the evening after both men had returned to Craiglockhart after their day's activities. He did not immediately tell him that he too wrote poetry; and it wasn't until some time afterwards that Sassoon realised that Owen was a poet of remarkable talent. He offered the young Owen helpful criticism and encouragement with his writing and introduced him to London literary life. Sassoon also helped Owen publish three poems in The Nation, a left-wing magazine and the forerunner to the New Statesman. This was the only time that Owen's work was put into print in his lifetime.
For Owen and Sassoon the short months that they spent at Craiglockhart were a respite from the anxieties and dangers of war. Although patients at Craiglockhart were tormented and troubled by their experience of the horrors of war, Owen was remembered as a cheerful patient with a great sense of fun. The three short months that the two men spent together at Craiglockhart before Owen was discharged represented the peak of both poets' talents and creativity. Some of the greatest poems to come out of World War One was written during their time there.