‘Literally, for this’: Edward Thomas’s ecocentric war poetry

Abstract

ABSTRACTWhilst the majority of First–World War poetry is associated with trench warfare and the human cost of conflict, Edward Thomas’s war poetry is notable for its lack of explicit commentary on the war or the experience of fighting. Instead, Thomas’s work centres on the environmental impact of the conflict on the British countryside and the ways in which it disrupts rural communities. This article argues that this alternative perspective on the Great War results in the creation of a new, ecocentric form of war poetry that emphasises the deep interconnections between the human and non-human world by linking the effects of violence abroad to its impact on the environment and ways of life at home. It also suggests that Thomas’s earth-centred war poetry proves the ability of nature writing to go beyond the small scale or local to confront global issues in a way that continues to speak to current anxieties in the age of the Anthropocene.