A soul in agony

In this compelling book, Matthew Hollis  analyses how Edward Thomas, for years a frustrated literary critic and prose writer on rural themes, became all at once, at the age of 36, a poet of genius. It was his close friendship with the American poet Robert Frost which, in 1914, precipitated this long-delayed fulfilment.

Married while at Oxford University, Thomas, to support his wife Helen and the three children whom they rapidly produced, burdened himself with writing ill-paid book reviews — sometimes as many as 15 a week. Of his own numerous books some were potboilers, others more distinguished, and all rather heavy in the hand, including the life of his hero, Richard Jefferies, the great 19th-century nature and country writer.

Thomas’s acute judgment, especially over new poetry, was soon recognised, but this did not make him rich. As their resources fluctuated, the Thomas family moved from one picturesque rented rural slum to another, at one time inhabiting a freezing Arts & Crafts house built by a friend.