Edward Thomas's Roads from Arras

Book excerpt: Edward Thomas is a paradox. One of our most highly-regarded poets, and author of one of the nation's favourite poems, "Adlestrop", Thomas is also one of the least-known British poets. These essays bridge that gap by offering fresh appraisals of his work. The volume includes a word-and-image response to Thomas's poem to his wife "And you, Helen", by poet Deryn Rees-Jones and artist Charlotte Hodes; new research by Ralph Pite on Thomas's relationship with American poet Robert Frost; and a discussion of Thomas as a "War Poet" by distinguished scholar Jean Moorcraft Wilson, author of the most recent, highly-praised biography of the poet. This celebratory centenary volume, edited by two of the leading poetry specialists in Europe, Adrian Grafe and Andrew McKeown, sheds new light on Edward Thomas and the roads his poems have travelled, a century after his death at the Battle of Arras on April 9th 1917.