By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘As the Team’s Head Brass’ is one of the best-loved and most widely-anthologised poems by Edward Thomas (1878-1917), who is viewed variously as a Georgian poet and as a poet of the First World War. Thomas wrote ‘As the Team’s Head Brass’ in 1916, focusing on attitudes to the ongoing war expressed by people back home in England, rather than fighting at the front. Below is the poem, and some words of analysis.
The best poems by Edward Thomas (1878-1917) selected by Dr Oliver Tearle
Edward Thomas was a master of the short poem. Variously labelled a ‘Georgian poet’ and a ‘war poet‘, he was really a little of both of these, and yet not quite either of them.
In a brief flurry of poetic creativity between late 1914 and his death in WWI in 1917, Thomas produced some of the finest poems of the early twentieth century. Here’s our pick of what we consider Edward Thomas’s ten finest poems, along with a little bit of information about each of them. Follow the links provided on the titles of the poems to read them.
An introduction to a classic Edward Thomas poem with an analysis of its meaning
Like much of the poetry written by Edward Thomas (1878-1917), ‘Tall Nettles’ takes a small and specific detail from nature and describes it in clear, plain language. Here is the poem, along with some comments on its language and imagery.
Tall nettles cover up, as they have done
These many springs, the rusty harrow, the plough
Long worn out, and the roller made of stone:
Only the elm butt tops the nettles now.
A short introduction to the poem ‘Thaw’ by Edward Thomas (1878-1917), written by Dr Oliver Tearle
‘Thaw’ is one of the shortest poems Edward Thomas wrote, and he was a master of the short poem. In a brief flurry of poetic creativity between late 1914 and his death in 1917, Thomas produced some of the finest poems of the early twentieth century. Here is ‘Thaw’, along with a brief analysis of its language and imagery.
Over the land freckled with snow half-thawed
The speculating rooks at their nests cawed
And saw from elm-tops, delicate as flowers of grass,
What we below could not see, Winter pass.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The latest in our series of short analyses of short poems takes Edward Thomas’s ‘Adlestrop’ as its subject. Before we get to the analysis, then, here is the wonderful sixteen-line poem, which was once ranked Britain’s 20th favourite poem: