Carcanet Press Logo
Quote of the Day
an admirable concern to keep lines open to writing in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and America.
Seamus Heaney
Order by 16th December to receive books in time for Christmas. Please bear in mind that all orders may be subject to postal delays that are beyond our control.

Edward Thomas (1878 - 1917)

  • About
  • Edward Thomas was born in London in 1878 and was educated at St Paul's School and Lincoln College Oxford. He published his first book, a collection of essays on the country, in 1896, with the encouragement of the critic James Ashcroft Noble. In 1899, while he was still an undergraduate, Thomas married Helen Noble (1877-1967), the daughter of his mentor. Their son Mervyn was born in 1900 and their elder daughter Bronwen in 1903. Myfanwy Thomas, their third child, was born in 1910.

    The family moved house frequently, but from 1906 lived in or near Petersfield, Hampshire, an area whose landscape was to have a strong influence on Thomas's poetry. Thomas sought to make a living as a writer, reviewing and publishing essays, anthologies, biographies, guidebooks and country writing. In 1913 his autobiographical novel The Happy-go-lucky Morgans was published. He also began to write poetry, but the strain of reconciling his own creativity with the need to earn enough to support his family created periods of deep depression during these years.

    In 1913 Thomas met Robert Frost, a friendship that was of profound importance to his own poetry. In 1915 Thomas enlisted in the Artists' Rifles, transferring a year later to the Royal Artillery, where he trained as a map-reading instructor and was commissioned second lieutenant. He volunteered for service overseas and was posted to France in January 1917. On 9 April Thomas was killed at the battle of Arras.

    His poetry was published posthumously: Poems (1917) under his pseudonym, Edward Eastaway, Last Poems in 1918 and his Collected Poems in 1920. Helen Thomas's accounts of her life with Thomas in As it Was (1926) and World without End (1931) were published with Myfanwy Thomas's memoir of her childhood as Under Storm's Wing (Carcanet Press, 1988).


Share this...
The Carcanet Blog One Little Room: Peter McDonald read more Collected Poems: Mimi Khalvati read more Invisible Dog: Fabio Morbito, translated by Richard Gwyn read more Dante's Purgatorio: Philip Terry read more Billy 'Nibs' Buckshot: John Gallas read more Emotional Support Horse: Claudine Toutoungi read more
Find your local bookshop logo
Arts Council Logo
We thank the Arts Council England for their support and assistance in this interactive Project.
This website ©2000-2024 Carcanet Press Ltd