Edward Thomas (poet)

Philip Edward Thomas (3 March 1878 – 9 April 1917) was an English poet, critical biographer and topographical writer. Some of his poems were published under the name Edward Eastaway.

Quotes

• Yes. I remember Adlestrop –
  The name, because one afternoon
  Of heat the express-train drew up there
  Unwontedly. It was late June.
  • "Adlestrop", line 1, cited from Collected Poems (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978), p. 71.

• 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.
  • "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.
  • "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.
  • The South Country (London: J. M. Dent & Co., 1909), pp. 98-99.

• To envy a man is to misunderstand him or yourself.
  • The South Country (London: J. M. Dent & Co., 1909), p. 118.

• There is nothing at the end of any road better than may be found beside it.
  • The Ichnield Road (London: Constable & Company Ltd, 1913), p. 5.

• 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.
  • "If I Should Ever By Chance", line 1, cited from Collected Poems (London: Selwyn & Blount, 1920), p. 19.

• The past is the only dead thing that smells sweet.
  • "Early One Morning", line 15, cited from Collected Poems (London: Selwyn & Blount, 1920), p. 32.

• Far more I feared all company: too sharp, too rude,
  Had been the wisest or the dearest human voice.
  What I desired I knew not, but whate'er my choice
  Vain it must be, I knew.
  • "Melancholy", line 4, cited from Collected Poems (London: Selwyn & Blount, 1920), p. 51.

• As well as any bloom upon a flower
  I like the dust on the nettles, never lost
  Except to prove the sweetness of a shower.
  • "Tall Nettles", line 6, cited from Collected Poems (London: Selwyn & Blount, 1920), p. 56.

• 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.
  • "Old Man", line 26, cited from Collected Poems (London: Selwyn & Blount, 1920), p. 98.

• The simple lack
  Of her is more to me
  Than others' presence.
  • "The Unknown", line 16, cited from Collected Poems (London: Selwyn & Blount, 1920), p. 116.