Source: File: Company of Hut
35: Edward Thomas second row, second from left. See an original image at: <http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03319/thomas7_3319732b.jpg> [Accessed 10 April 2017]
When might a poet emerge
from night?
As some day without date
Or significance - as a wind
might push
Unpredictable weather;
As a sun that warms, or settling
of frost.
Perhaps by challenging
companionship
On long walks over long
grass,
Reaching divergence of
yellow wooded
Paths, where friends debate
In lost sunshine - a final
step was taken.
Successful novelist, essayist
and critic
Edward Thomas received
A friend’s poem by post -
Robert Frost's
'The Road Not Taken,'
Pushed his friend along a new
direction.
English Thomas had reacted to American
English Thomas had reacted to American
Friend Frost, to feel insulted.
This prompted the London born man into
Armed services; taking him
On a decisive path to join Artists Rifles.
July 1915's enlistment had
broken
Any lingering indecision -
Despite marriage and middle
aged,
Edward Thomas felt
Personal need to undertake his
duty.
November 1916 - over many
months
Of training had gained
Thomas' promotion, from
Corporal's
Two bar chevron to take
Commission as Second Lieutenant.
By shrugged off indecisive
creativity
Edward Thomas found
His path to poetry - then
indirectly
Spoke of war, along
With a favored subject of countryside.
Evoking own deeper emotions,
mostly
Written prior to stepping
Onto foreign soil, Thomas would reach
The borders of sleep,
And become lost within a deep
forest.
A man's self struggle with
love of both
Wife, children and pride
For country - Thomas
continued to write
When finally he arrived
In France for 1917, then
ready to fight.
As commissioned Second
Lieutenant
With the Royal Garrison
Artillery, Thomas headed
towards Arras.
This enigmatic man, despite
Success, carried depressive tendencies.
Historic legacy of phantoms
had haunted
Thomas - old depression
Had led him to unsuccessful
suicide trials -
But perhaps war gave
Him reason - he crumbled
pinched earth.
By way of explanation of why
he wanted
To fight, Thomas sought
An urgent transfer to the
frontline - keen
Impatient to be shot at.
Suicidal or patriotic Thomas
gained wish.
A new day dawned on Easter
Monday,
9th April 1917 - destruction
Commenced the second battle of
Arras.
Vimy Ridge under a heavy
Canadian attack, saw a dawn
of shellfire.
A distance of some
seven miles existed
Between Vimy and Arras -
An area where writer Second
Lieutenant
Edward Thomas took duty,
Having spent relatively
little time in France.
Then with 143 poems to his name, Thomas
Took a break - lack of
caution
Perhaps, took him outside. Morning
shells
Still fired, as he decided
To loiter, close beside a parapet for a
smoke.
Such a place he had written
about - where
Children ran along, as a path
That gave them a
view below their feet.
If then there they would see
Their creator lingering to light-up his pipe.
As tobacco ignited he drew in
the flame
With final breath, as some
Shell impacted close by -
sending him
To the borders of sleep -
A concussive wave sped over his body.
The impact of the blast wave
rocked
Vital organs; Edward
Thomas fell dead. Later
Helen Thomas
Would read how there
Was no mark on her husband's
body.
Such an official version had spared
his
Wife a little grief - though
Commanding officer Franklin
Lushington,
Years later revealed how
Thomas had been shot through the chest.
by Jamie Mann.
Source: File: Edward Thomas
Poet. Wikipedia. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Thomas_(poet)>
[Accessed 10 April 2017]
Source: File: Edward Thomas
(1878-1917), War Poets Association. Available at: <http://www.warpoets.org/poets/edward-thomas-1878-1917/>
[Accessed 10 April 2017]
Source: File: Edward Thomas:
an acute depressive who loved the English countryside. The Daily Telgrapgh.
Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/11628589/Edward-Thomas-an-acute-depressive-who-loved-the-English-countryside.html/>
[Accessed 10 April 2017]
Mann, J., 2016. 100
years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 10 April
2017).
#WW1
#WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone
#worldwaroneremembered #WW1Poets
No comments:
Post a Comment