Description

Philip Edward Thomas (1878-1917) was an English poet and journalist. Unusually he married while still an undergraduate and determined to live his life by the pen. He was already a seasoned writer before the outbreak of war, and had worked as a journalist before becoming a poet, with the encouragement of his close friend Robert Frost. Living at Steep, in Hampshire, he initially published some poetry under the name Edward Eastaway. He also wrote a novel and some works of non-fiction. Thomas's poems are noted for their attention to the English countryside. Following the outbreak of World War I Thomas enlisted in the army in 1915, and he is considered one of the war poets, although few of his poems deal directly with his war experiences. He was killed in action during the Battle of Arras (1917), soon after he arrived in France. His Collected Poems was one of Andrew Motion's ten picks for the poetry section of the "Guardian Essential Library" in October 2002. His other works include: George Borrow: The Man and His Books (1912), Poems (1917) and Last Poems (1918).