The Icknield Way

by Edward Thomas, A.L. Collins (Illustrator)

This early work by Edward Thomas was originally published in 1916 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. 'The Icknield Way' is one of Thomas's essays on travel. Philip Edward Thomas was born in Lambeth, London, England in 1878. His parents were Welsh migrants, and Thomas attended several schools, before ending up at St. Pauls. Thomas led a reclusive early life, and began writing as a teenager. He published his first book, The Woodland Life (1897), at the age of just nineteen. A year later, he won a history scholarship to Lincoln College, Oxford. Despite being less well-known than other World War I poets, Thomas is regarded by many critics as one of the finest.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Walking, Nature, History

342 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1913

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Philip Edward Thomas was an Anglo-Welsh writer of prose and poetry. He is commonly considered a war poet, although few of his poems deal directly with his war experiences. Already an accomplished writer, Thomas turned to poetry only in 1914. He enlisted in the army in 1915, and was killed in action during the Battle of Arras in 1917, soon after he arrived in France.

His Works:

Poetry collections:

Six Poems, under pseudonym Edward Eastaway, Pear Tree Press, 1916.
Poems, Holt, 1917.
Last Poems, Selwyn & Blount, 1918.
Collected Poems, Selwyn & Blount, 1920.
Two Poems, Ingpen & Grant, 1927.
The Poems of Edward Thomas, R. George Thomas (ed), Oxford University Press, 1978
Poemoj (Esperanto translation), Kris Long (ed & pub), Burleigh Print, Bracknell, Berks, 1979.
Edward Thomas: A Mirror of England, Elaine Wilson (ed), Paul & Co., 1985.
The Poems of Edward Thomas, Peter Sacks (ed), Handsel Books, 2003.
The Annotated Collected Poems, Edna Longley (ed), Bloodaxe Books, 2008.

Fiction:

The Happy-Go-Lucky Morgans (novel), 1913

Essay collections:

Horae Solitariae, Dutton, 1902.
Oxford, A & C Black, 1903.
Beautiful Wales, Black, 1905.
The Heart of England, Dutton, 1906.
The South Country, Dutton, 1906 (reissued by Tuttle, 1993).
Rest and Unrest, Dutton, 1910.
Light and Twilight, Duckworth, 1911.
The Last Sheaf, Cape, 1928.

Reviews

[Jonny Parshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edward Thomas' Icknield Way is a study in modern travel, in that reading it, one can easily grasp the influential meat that inspired modern travel writers such as Bill Bryson, Robert MacFarlane, and that ilk. Thomas illustrates his travel along what is perhaps England's oldest road in four comp0nents per chapter.

Description. Thomas, a keen observer, records every tree, flower, field, as well as "Every. Single. Pub." along his way. While it is understandable the author wished to preserve the physical aspects of the road in written record, reading the rambling lists of flora and domestic fauna (and now-defunct public houses) grows tiresome to the reader. This is easily the dullest aspect of the work, for which I award the book zero stars.

Interaction. More interesting than the bits of plant and soil Edward records is his interactions with countryfolk along the way, which ranges between admiration, pity, and pure disdain. I consider these encounters far more valuable than the natural records. After all, the same patches of flowers in some places still grow. The exact same trees that Thomas sat under STILL stand in many cases. The people, however, are long since passed on, as is their culture and way of life. This portrait of a bygone civilisation (more or less) strikes nostalgia in the modern reader, whom will never know or experience long forgotten in the century that's past. I award these passages one star.

Philosophy. Thomas does seem to enjoy, and in some instances, loathe waxing philosophically on the state of the English countryside, as well as his own purpose in it. His philosophy tends to exist around creating hypothetical assumptions around the people he encounters--both living and dead (via grave markers)-- and their contributions to the surroundings. If only he knew we do the same for him now. A second star is given.

Humour, without which, this book would be meaningless. The best part of this book, in my opinion, is Thomas' pessimistic, deadpan humour. I wish to give example here, but it is truly worth experiencing for one's self. Despite seeming to own a whimsical fascination with natural and historic things, Thomas tended to be very depressed, and thus, depressing. But rather than drone morosely on the state of things, he expressed it through humour so dark it is rather hilarious, that is, it creates deep belly laughs accompanied by a hint of sullen tears. His grim caricatures of English countryfolk seem something of Monty Python, but with an added ladle of doom. A third star is in order.

Tied together, The Icknield Way creates a powerful, sensory snapshot of the England of a century ago. It's got some seriously tasty morsels for those who don not mind chewing through acres of bracken to get to it.

[Adrian Osborne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A difficult read at the start as we are introduced to Edward's literature review of the historical accounts of the Icknield Way. Contains some interesting historical details and a snap shot of life at the start of the twentieth century when we get underway with his journey.

Elevated to cult status in my opinion by one of the greatest travel / hiking quotes of all time,“There is nothing at the end of any road better than may be found beside it.”

I love it Edward, I love it!

[Caro · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got a wonderful old copy of this from the Wellesley College library through interlibrary loan. Wanted to read it because of MacFarland's marvelous book about walking, but this didn't work for me. There are almost turn-by-turn directions for following the Way, and I couldn't get to any good parts. I've since downloaded it and might do better if I give it more time.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely book that requires a certain patience and slowing-down (at a walking pace?) to truly appreciate. Part exhaustive travel journal, part prose poem, it’s a love song to the English countryside. A number of fascinating excursus, including a gorgeously melancholy reflection on rain, reveal Thomas’ true gift as a writer and make the book particularly memorable.

[Richard Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book about walking in early 20th Century England is much admired among writers of walking books for reasons that escape me. Most of the book is a tiresome catalog of every physical feature, tree, house and hedge that the author sees as he walks a road that may or may not be the ancient Icknield Way. We get too little of the history or the natural history and very little of the people. When people do appear they are sometimes interesting and colorful, but the author seems to hold them in contempt. He has kind words to say about very few of them.

I did like the idea that the author's chosen road is one that almost certainly existed, and that he almost certainly followed at least in part, but that has been lost in large sections and has a very unclear history, possibly Roman, possibly a famous royal road of early English kings, possibly just a well worn path for driving oxen and perhaps named after the early tribe of the Iceni except that they lived in an entirely different part of Britain. It all makes for a mystery shrouded in fog that creates a charming atmosphere for the author's trek.

And the best part of the book is the vocabulary, which creates a feel of English authenticity -- a countryside defined by coombs, barrows and tumulus, flora in the form of gorse, furze, crane's bill and other exotic sounding plants and birds such as pewits, wheatears and dabchicks. And then we get the great place names - Blewbury, Chinnor, Totterdown, Ivinghoe, Wantage, and the list goes on. They could all have been invented by Dickens. My favorite natural feature is the Blowingstone, a brown sarsen rock with a natural shaft in the middle that can be blown like a trumpet and heard for five miles. I looked it up and found that it is still there. I must see it some day and test my trumpting abilities on it.

[Kevin McAvoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is over 100 years old, I do like older books for their unique points of view of life back then. The Icknield Way is one of the four most ancient roads that traversed Britain before the Romans arrived.
Edward Thomas started his journey around 1914 just before WW1.
I liked the writing, very poetic and he has a gift for descriptive narrative.
The journey has some interactions with the locals, these are good to follow.
I imagined follwing the way myself and using this as a guide but there are better newer guidebooks that match the current pathway with less confusion than a 100 year old map.
Funny too, how can it be British without being funny.
Even a century ago us Brits had a great sense of humour.
A bit slow at times but I read it over a few weeks.
Part of my British heritage to know about these places.

[Tonya Thurman · Rating 4 out of 5]

To paraphrase the author as he talked of someone else’s book about this road, “[he] could be dull, and if you opened the book at random you might be disappointed; but if you read a whole chapter you were certain to be delighted.” So some of the book is simply describing twists and turns and hills and valleys, but some of it is a charming documentary of 1913 England and the characters in the towns and villages that made up this long ago world. Towns along the road that would not give a stranger a bed and inns where they charged more for tea on Sundays because it went against their religion to be working. But also helpful fellow travelers who pointed him onward or shared their latest troubles. A good, relaxing read and a decent travel book.

[Thomas Warger · Rating 4 out of 5]

The travel diary of a man walking these ancient and nearly forgotten trackways in England on the eve of WW I. . It is a quiet lament for the passing of old England, all the sadder because the author died in the Great War.

[Warrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this on the iPad with a pretty ordinary conversion, didn't really help.