Poetry Forum

A Private



This ploughman dead in battle slept out of doors
Many a frozen night, and merrily
Answered staid drinkers, good bedmen, and all bores:
"At Mrs Greenland's Hawthorn Bush," said he,
"I slept." None knew which bush. Above the town,
Beyond `The Drover', a hundred spot the down
In Wiltshire. And where now at last he sleeps
More sound in France -that, too, he secret keeps.



Edward Thomas




Philip Edward Thomas (3 March 1878 – 9 April 1917) was an Anglo-Welsh writer of prose and poetry. He is commonly considered a war poet, although few of his poems deal directly with his war experiences. Already an accomplished writer, Thomas turned to poetry only in 1914. He enlisted in the army in 1915, and was killed in action during the Battle of Arras in 1917, soon after he arrived in France.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Thomas_%28poet%29

Posted in the wrong location? Maybe you meant this to be in the poetry discussion section?

Thanks Ben. Wasn't sure where to post it really. Was reading an anthology of World War 1 poetry last week on the eve of Armistice Day, and was struck by the unusual slant of this.