Poetry Analysis

A Short Analysis of ‘Thaw’ by Edward Thomas

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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.

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A Short Analysis of Marvell’s ‘The Mower to the Glow-Worms’

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A brief summary and analysis of the Andrew Marvell poem ‘The Mower to the Glow-Worms’

Andrew Marvell’s poem ‘The Mower to the Glow-Worms’ is one of the little jewels in the crown of seventeenth-century poetry. Marvell (1621-78) was one of the Metaphysical Poets and ‘The Mower to the Glow-Worms’ is one of his finest poems. Here is the poem, followed by a short summary, along with an analysis of its language and imagery.

Ye living Lamps, by whose dear light
The Nightingale does sit so late,
And studying all the Summer-night,
Her matchless Songs does meditate;

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A Short Analysis of Laurence Binyon’s ‘For the Fallen’

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By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Laurence Binyon’s ‘For the Fallen’ (1914) is one of the most widely quoted poems of the First World War. Unlike Wilfred Owen’s ‘Futility’, it wasn’t written from the trenches but by a poet back home, reflecting on the sacrifice thousands of men on the Western Front were making every week. But how well do we really know ‘For the Fallen’?

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A Short Analysis of ‘Adlestrop’ by Edward Thomas

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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:

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