The Poetry of Edward Thomas

Edward Thomas came to poetry only in the last years of his short life, urged on by his friend Robert Frost, and wrote almost all of these poems between 1914 and his death in the trenches at Arras in 1917. His verse is quiet and closely observed, rooted in the English countryside: hedgerows, weather, birdsong, empty roads, and a steady undertone of melancholy and unrest as war approaches. Pieces like ‘Adlestrop’, ‘The Owl’, and ‘Rain’ have become fixtures of English poetry, admired for their plain speech and honest feeling. This collection gathers the work that secured his reputation, most of it published after he was killed. Free to read as a PDF and EPUB edition.