As the Team’s Head Brass
– Edward Thomas
Nevinson is best known for his paintings of the Great War. His post-war career was not so distinguished although many of those works are quite markable he never achieved the acclaim that was bestowed on him for his war paintings.
Christopher Nevinson – 1911
Thomas wrote all his poetry in a three-year burst of creativity between 1914 and 1917. He had enlisted in 1915 and embarked for France at the beginning of 1917.
On Easter Monday, 1917, the first day of the Arras Offensive, Thomas paused for a moment to fill his pipe. He was killed by a shell that passed so close to him that the blast of air stopped his heart. His wife Helen was told that he died without a mark on his body. This was the story that was believed for many years. A letter from his commanding officer discovered years later revealed that he had been “shot clean through the chest”.
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I think this is my favourite Edward Thomas poem. It is about the war but more it is about the change of the season, the rhythms of the country. It's perfect the way the conversation "gossip" is parsed out by the up and down of the plough team. The ploughman weighs the losing of a limb - a leg, and arm - and his mind. This war seeping into every corner of life. So brilliant. So moving.