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Edward Thomas Quotes

Philip Edward Thomas was a British poet, essayist, and novelist. He is commonly considered a war poet, although few of his poems deal directly with his war experiences, and his career in poetry only came after he had already been a successful writer and literary critic. In 1915, he enlisted in the British Army to fight in the First World War and was killed in action during the Battle of Arras in 1917, soon after he arrived in France.

A Study Centre, dedicated to Edward Thomas, featuring over 1800 books by and about Edward Thomas collected by the late Tim Wilton-Steer, has been opened in Petersfield Museum. Access to the Study Centre is available by prior appointment.

✵ 3. March 1878 – 9. April 1917
Edward Thomas photo
Edward Thomas: 7   quotes 1   like

Famous Edward Thomas Quotes

“The simple lack of her is more to me than others' presence.”

Edward Thomas

Source: "The Unknown", line 16, cited from Collected Poems (London: Selwyn & Blount, 1920), p. 116.

“Yes. I remember Adlestrop –
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.”

Edward Thomas

"Adlestrop", line 1, cited from Collected Poems (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978) p. 71.

“I, too, often shrivel the grey shreds,
Sniff them and think and sniff again and try
Once more to think what it is I am remembering,
Always in vain. I cannot like the scent,
Yet I would rather give up others more sweet,
With no meaning, than this bitter one.”

Edward Thomas

Poem Old Man http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/old-man/

“The flowers left thick at nightfall in the wood
This Eastertide call into mind the men,
Now far from home, who, with their sweethearts, should
Have gathered them and will do never again.”

Edward Thomas

"In Memoriam (Easter 1915)", line 1, cited from Collected Poems (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978) p. 173.

“I built myself a house of glass:
It took me years to make it:
And I was proud. But now, alas!
Would God someone would break it.”

Edward Thomas

"I Built Myself a House of Glass", line 1, cited from Collected Poems (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978) p. 215.

“I like to think how easily Nature will absorb London as she absorbed the mastodon, setting her spiders to spin the winding-sheet and her worms to fill in the grave, and her grass to cover it pitifully up, adding flowers - as an unknown hand added them to the grave of Nero.”

Edward Thomas

The South Country (London: Dent, 1909) pp. 98-99.

“If I should ever by chance grow rich
I'll buy Codham, Cockridden, and Childerditch,
Roses, Pyrgo, and Lapwater,
And let them all to my eldest daughter.”

Edward Thomas

Poem If I Should Ever By Chance http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/if-i-should-ever-by-chance/

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