The 'Desert Places' in Edward Thomas's Poetry

Abstract

This is a characteristic mood – some would say the characteristic mood of Edward Thomas's poetry. It varies in intensity of expression, ranging from a diffused brooding sadness to a sharp articulation of despair; the restless discontent of these lines comes somewhere between the two. Whether or not it is his principal poetic concern, it is certainly a major concern; any admirer of Thomas who thinks that his poetic work amounts to a more valuable achievement than a preoccupation with such a mood and subject-matter would normally permit must try to explain why. It will not do to say that the best poems are those that have no connection with this area of feeling, for this is not so. Nor will an invocation of Coleridge's name protect Thomas from the charge of expressing a limited range and an unfruitful kind of feeling. There is only one 'Dejection Ode.' It would be better to recall Coleridge's remark, founded on bitter experience, that 'When a Man is unhappy, he writes damned bad Poetry.' In this connection it is pertinent to note that in most instances Thomas's is a remembered or recreated depression.