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Edward Thomas: A Poet for His Country
When in 1915 Edward Thomas… was asked by a friend what he thought he was fighting for, he bent down and picked up a pinch of earth. ‘Literally, for this’, he answered.
Edward Thomas, the eldest of six sons to Welsh parents, was born in London in 1878. From humble beginnings, Thomas, a shy young man who was often disillusioned, went on to become one of the most distinctive voices in modern British poetry. Influenced by late Victorian traditions, Thomas also found inspiration in his close friendships with his own contemporaries, including the American poet Robert Frost.
The lucidity of his work renders it timeless and often neither Victorian, Georgian, or truly modern. His early work illustrates a profound love for the English countryside; its landscape, inhabitants and ancient traditions.
Thomas’s own personal anxieties also feature heavily in his writing, revealing the torment of restlessness and guilt he later felt within his own marriage, his lack of contentment and his angst surrounding questions of death. In 1915, Thomas enlisted in the army, a journey which would be his last, and one which married his intense patriotism with his fear of death.
In Edward A Poet for His Country, , Jan Marsh draws on the major events of Thomas’s life, his prose and his poetry, and Helen Thomas’s memoirs, to place the work of the poet Edward Thomas in ‘the context of his life as a whole.’
“An excellent addition to Bloomsbury studies that will be of interest to both devotees and newcomers” - Publishers Weekly
“Jan Marsh's book is the best researched and fullest biography of Rossetti we have yet had” - Fiona MacCarthy, New York Review of Books
“The author's steady, sympathetic course through Rossetti's divided life enables readers to delve into the intense and original self most fully expressed in her poetry.” - Kirkus Review
Jan Marsh (b.1942) has written a number of ground-breaking biographies, including Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood, Jane and May Morris, The Legend of Elizabeth Siddal and her highly acclaimed work Christina Rossetti. She has also scripted arts documentary programmes for radio and television, and has curated exhibitions of work by women painters of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. She is a contributor to the Dictionary of Women Artists and a frequent lecturer in Britain, North America and Japan.
Edward Thomas, the eldest of six sons to Welsh parents, was born in London in 1878. From humble beginnings, Thomas, a shy young man who was often disillusioned, went on to become one of the most distinctive voices in modern British poetry. Influenced by late Victorian traditions, Thomas also found inspiration in his close friendships with his own contemporaries, including the American poet Robert Frost.
The lucidity of his work renders it timeless and often neither Victorian, Georgian, or truly modern. His early work illustrates a profound love for the English countryside; its landscape, inhabitants and ancient traditions.
Thomas’s own personal anxieties also feature heavily in his writing, revealing the torment of restlessness and guilt he later felt within his own marriage, his lack of contentment and his angst surrounding questions of death. In 1915, Thomas enlisted in the army, a journey which would be his last, and one which married his intense patriotism with his fear of death.
In Edward A Poet for His Country, , Jan Marsh draws on the major events of Thomas’s life, his prose and his poetry, and Helen Thomas’s memoirs, to place the work of the poet Edward Thomas in ‘the context of his life as a whole.’
“An excellent addition to Bloomsbury studies that will be of interest to both devotees and newcomers” - Publishers Weekly
“Jan Marsh's book is the best researched and fullest biography of Rossetti we have yet had” - Fiona MacCarthy, New York Review of Books
“The author's steady, sympathetic course through Rossetti's divided life enables readers to delve into the intense and original self most fully expressed in her poetry.” - Kirkus Review
Jan Marsh (b.1942) has written a number of ground-breaking biographies, including Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood, Jane and May Morris, The Legend of Elizabeth Siddal and her highly acclaimed work Christina Rossetti. She has also scripted arts documentary programmes for radio and television, and has curated exhibitions of work by women painters of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. She is a contributor to the Dictionary of Women Artists and a frequent lecturer in Britain, North America and Japan.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1978
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October 6, 2016
'Edward Thomas: A Poet for his Country' by Jan Marsh
4 stars/ 8 out of 10
Edward Thomas is one of my favourite poets, so I was eager to read this biography of him. Jan Marsh's book was originally published in 1978.
There was much of interest in this biography, and many things that were new to me. For example, I hadn't realised that Thomas had written so much prose, and only turned to poetry in 1914; and I hadn't realised that he knew both William Henry Hudson and W.H. Davies.
There was some reliance on the reminiscences, which I have read, published by Thomas' widow, Helen. I have never been sure how accurate these are, so it was disappointing that there were no other sources available for these sections.
I especially enjoyed the sections relating to poetry. There was plenty of information about Robert Frost and the Dymock poets. The book put the poems into context and into date order.
Throughout the book, Marsh intersperses her commentary with extracts from Thomas' prose and poetry. It is a well written and interesting book, and I recommend it to anyone to who is interested in Edward Thomas, his work, and the times in which he lived.
Thank you to Endeavour Press and to NetGalley for an ARC.
Displaying 1 of 1 review