Book description
When Edward Thomas was killed at the Battle of Arras in 1917 his
poems were largely unpublished. But in the years since his death, his
work has come to be cherished for its rare, sustained vision of the
natural world and as 'a mirror of England' (Walter de la Mare). This
edition, drawn from Thomas's manuscripts and typescripts as well as
from his published works, offers an accessible introduction to this
most resonant - and relevant - of poets. 'In his lifetime, he was
known and loved by a very, loving few. Now, since his death, he is
known and loved by very many, and yearly this is more so. There is in
his poems and unassumingly profound sense of permanence. A war came
and ditched him, but his poems stay with no other wounds than those
which caused them.' Dylan Thomas 'A very fine poet. And a poet all in
his own right. The accent is absolutely his own.' Robert Frost 'The
one hundred and forty poems he wrote in the last two years of his life
are a miracle. I can think of no body of work in English that is more
mysterious.' Michael Longley
Matthew Hollis is the author of Ground Water, short listed for
the Whitbread Prize for Poetry, the Guardian First Book Award and the
Forward Prize for Best First Collection. Now All Roads Lead to France
is his first prose book.
