British Country Life in Autumn and Winter by Edward Thomas

British Country Life in Autumn and Winter by Edward Thomas

Contained within this book is a collection of essays, field notes, and diary excerpts from numerous naturalists relating to British country life in Autumn and Winter. These fascinating and highly-readable articles will appeal to those with an interest in the British countryside and naturalism in general. Contents include: Open-air Diary for October, Open-air Diary for November, Open-air Diary for December, Open-air Diary for January, Open-air Diary for February, Open-air Diary for March, Flowers of the Shore, A Surrey Plateau, Day-flying Moths, The Sphinx Moth, Humours of Insect Life in October, The Makers of Gossamer, etc. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in a modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new biography of Edward Thomas.

Edward Thomas (1878-1917) called himself 'mainly Welsh'. He grew up in London, but developed a passion for Nature. Hating the economic forces that had destroyed agricultural communities and expanded cities, Thomas absorbed, as his poetry shows, the literary and folk traditions of the English countryside. After studying history at Oxford, he lived in rural southern England, particularly Steep in Hampshire. He supported his family by writing reviews, country books, biography and criticism. Overwork caused (sometimes suicidal) depression and creative despair. This self-styled 'hurried & harried prose man' could not find a 'form that suits me'. Yet books such as The South Country (1909) and In Pursuit of Spring (1914) fertilised the poetry which - prompted by Robert Frost - Thomas began to write in December 1914. An influential poetry-reviewer, Thomas had praised Frost's North of Boston as 'revolutionary'. And its 'absolute fidelity to the postures which the voice assumes in the most expressive intimate speech' clarified his own artistic direction. Thomas's poem 'The sun used to shine' celebrates the poets' friendship, but also suggests Thomas's darker inspiration - the Great War. Although over-age, he enlisted in the Artists' Rifles (July 1915). He was killed at Arras (April 1917) before his first collection, Poems, appeared. Edna Longley's edition of his poetry, The Annotated Collected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 2008), has established the most authoritative text of his work, and has the most comprehensive notes and critical apparatus of any edition.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781473336544
ISBN 10	1473336546
Title	British Country Life in Autumn and Winter
Author	Edward Thomas
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Thousand Fields
Year published	2017-02-09
Number of pages	302
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.