tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post1626067705062335683..comments2024-01-02T15:12:14.699+00:00Comments on War Poetry: Edward Thomas: 'In Memoriam [Easter 1915]'Tim Kendallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-50260420400067669442023-11-21T00:26:52.450+00:002023-11-21T00:26:52.450+00:00The season of Eastertide lasts 50 days, concluding...The season of Eastertide lasts 50 days, concluding with Pentecost/Whitsun. Hope this rather late addition helps, though 6/4 would still seem to have been after Eastertide that year.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-29645089316641985962012-02-13T17:41:51.700+00:002012-02-13T17:41:51.700+00:00No, I doubt that it's a typo. Eastertide is a ...No, I doubt that it's a typo. Eastertide is a period which includes, but is not limited to, Easter Sunday. Two days after Easter Sunday is still Eastertide.Tim Kendallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-6464764676707735052012-02-13T17:27:34.669+00:002012-02-13T17:27:34.669+00:00Do you believe that Thomas wrote a poem in 1915, t...Do you believe that Thomas wrote a poem in 1915, that includes the phrase "This Eastertide," and yet titled it '6.IV.15? Isn't it more likely that it was originally titled '4.IV.15,' and that a typo occured somewhere?<br />By the way, was it common at the time to use Roman numerals in dates?Bartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-2128658333012814222012-02-13T17:13:57.662+00:002012-02-13T17:13:57.662+00:00Maybe that's why the title got changed!Maybe that's why the title got changed!Tim Kendallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17917270014209480898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-90460550363572223092012-02-13T17:10:35.211+00:002012-02-13T17:10:35.211+00:00What does 6.IV.15 refer to? Easter was on 4/4 in 1...What does 6.IV.15 refer to? Easter was on 4/4 in 1915.Bartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-17300670219714282562011-11-22T20:58:54.600+00:002011-11-22T20:58:54.600+00:00Ref. 'call into mind' and 'will do nev...Ref. 'call into mind' and 'will do never again'. Just a shot in the dark, but I think the poem reads better in a Welsh accent, which I assume Thomas must have had even though he was brought up in London. <br /><br />(Welsh ancestry/ children: Bronwen, Merfyn and Myfanwy/ ‘If the war goes on I believe I shall find myself a sort of Englishman, though neither poet or soldier’).Phil Daweshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08334411074207961255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-25881327508537271982011-07-30T01:42:00.816+01:002011-07-30T01:42:00.816+01:00The iambic pentameter leads inexorably to "an...The iambic pentameter leads inexorably to "and never will again". Why did Thomas reject this? it isn't just a question of the delayed negative; "and will do never again' is outrageously ugly. Why? I assume Thomas may have thought the natural ending too conventionally sweet and deliberately reminded us that what is here implicit is itself ugly.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-3325472519004560062011-03-23T22:14:15.265+00:002011-03-23T22:14:15.265+00:00I will always find this poem intensely moving. My...I will always find this poem intensely moving. My late lamented English teacher did a PhD on Edward Thomas and got me interested in the first place.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-66074314750794414112011-02-16T01:35:56.371+00:002011-02-16T01:35:56.371+00:00Short and powerful. Edward Thomas has that knack o...Short and powerful. Edward Thomas has that knack of capturing emotion in so few lines. Even when he elongates the theme as in "The Team's Headbrass" the brevity is still there.<br /><br />Owen, Sassoon and Gurney had the powerful descriptive stuff but Thomas is, to my mind, the WWI poet.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-66591817250312924152010-04-27T04:04:57.175+01:002010-04-27T04:04:57.175+01:00'In Memoriam [Easter 2010]'
The binbags l...'In Memoriam [Easter 2010]'<br /><br />The binbags left thick at nightfall in the street<br />This Eastertide call into mind the book of Edward Thomas' poetry,<br />Now far from home, which I left on a London bus<br />and will never see again.J.M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/15890064831189048444noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-53363629848076655822010-04-23T05:53:19.693+01:002010-04-23T05:53:19.693+01:00perhaps it's because I have met so many at war...perhaps it's because I have met so many at war, or those returned from war (A'stan/Balkans), I somehow feel this is a comment not only on the physical death but also the spiritual/psychological death of those men which prevents them from ever again gathering the flowers with their sweethearts... some of those who return will never, ever be able to fully come home.smshttp://www.warpoet.canoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-1626896337340737322010-04-05T17:02:17.232+01:002010-04-05T17:02:17.232+01:00I love Thomas. So much beautiful work.I love Thomas. So much beautiful work.Victoria Janssenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12259793807283856761noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-59861069393496469762010-04-04T23:07:23.997+01:002010-04-04T23:07:23.997+01:00Always willing to quibble, I offer two-plus though...Always willing to quibble, I offer two-plus thoughts. You dislike "call into mind," and I only wonder if there might not be some larger remembrance implied--not just vaguely reminded but the men in some way actually entering the chamber of his mind like restless spirits. A stretch, I suppose. <br /><br />But I am sonically bothered more by that final "never again," which may add emphasis but jars on my ear, even while it does that pausing... then-snapping-shut that you discuss. He might have said "... but never will again." Would that have paled so beside the poet's off-rhythm choice?Ed Leimbacherhttp://www.mrebks.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499661274163551793.post-72932876625840663112010-04-03T09:56:22.493+01:002010-04-03T09:56:22.493+01:00I agree, it shows how powerful simplicity and dire...I agree, it shows how powerful simplicity and directness are in poetry, when all the time we are earnestly striving for the opposite!Nicholas Murrayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07189263209323471368noreply@blogger.com