Plants in Edward Thomas.
Wild Flowers.
lesser celandine (wiki)Edward Thomas learned to identify and value wild flowers early in life. His grandparents were Welsh but had moved to Swindon for railway employment. He visited and stayed there frequently, without his parents; presumably this was in part because his mother had five more children after him.
There he met the country people, the Uzzells, who lived near Coate, Richard Jefferies' home.
'Dad' Uzzell taught Edward about animals, birds, trees and flowers. Jefferies's example taught him, perhaps, to write about them.
He must surely have read 'Bevis, the Story of a Boy', a book which my son Will, in the seventies, liked a lot and rather influenced him I think, in that he is a highly valued carpenter and joiner and knows everything about wood. (Shameless plug: www.waterlanejoinery.co.uk)
Thomas's 'The Woodland Life', published when he was only nineteen, reflects these early influences. He had left school, determined to be a writer; influenced by his future father-in-law James Noble, he took one of his long, note-taking journeys on foot. The notes, unlike the formal prose passages, read almost like poems.
I stole this from Google Books - rather like it as a way of presenting or representing a book.
In 1910 he published the strange stories ' Rest and Unrest': in this he is about to encounter a mysterious woman picking flowers:
I had been there a score of times without making anything like a full survey and inventory of my kingdom. It was becoming part of me, a kingdom rather of the spirit than of the earth, and I was content to see what I had seen on my first visit. In the neighbouring woods I had sought for orchises but after finding half a dozen kinds here at that time I had not looked for more. The other flowers were the usual flowers of the woods, the minute green moschatel, the stars of stitchwort and later woodruff, the bluebell and a few more, such as I was glad to greet for the twentieth time with more familiarity than ceremony.. ......(seeing her flowers)
Though I am not a botanist I see most of the flowers in my path and I know the names of most; but I recognized none of these. They were bells and cups and stars clustered or single, in spires and bunches, that I had never seen growing wild before.
"There are many here in this wood," she said in answer to my questions. "Yes, only here."
"Can you tell me their names?" I asked.
"No. They have never been christened that I know of," she replied.
Seeing some orchises among them I said:
"But you know these?"
"Yes, they are fly-hawkins and butterflies' nests," she said, perverting the names of the fly-orchis and bird's nest and butterfly orchises. She smiled, I did not know why; but it was a smile as fitting to her childlike mouth and complexion, her quick-silver eye, her briskness, and her hop to one side. I asked her the name of the wood. "The Maiden's Wood," -- she said, "It has always been called the Maiden's Wood . . . I do not know the meaning of the name." And she went on picking flowers. I now saw that these unfamiliar kinds were to be found everywhere in the little wood.
Twice again I saw her in the wood, and I liked to see her alone and undisturbed, at ease and at home there like a bird questing among the dead leaves when it has no fears of being observed.
Words from 'The Woodland Life'
autumn bark beeches beneath birds blackbird blackcap blackthorn bloom blossom blue boughs bramble branches broad brook brown buds burst catcher catkins chaffinch Chiffchaff climb colour coltsfoot coppice creeping cuckoo curves dark dead deep dense ditch earth eggs elms English Fields faint Fieldfares Fields and Woods firs flower foliage frost gorse grass green grey ground-ivy hawthorn hazel hedge Herb Robert hidden hide hollow Larks leaf leaves lesser celandine Lesser whitethroat light Linnets Lydiard Tregose Marsh-marigolds meadow mist molecatcher Moorhens moss mound nest numbers oaks pale path Peewits pilewort Pine pond poplars purple rabbits rain Richmond Park rise robin rooks shadow shire Mole side silent singing slope song starlings stems sunlight Surrey Woodland sward sweet tall thick thorns thrush tormentil Touch of Winter trees trunks twigs whistle whitethroat wild willows Winds of Winter wings Winter in Richmond wood near London wood-pigeons wren yellow young
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| tormentil (wildflowerfinder.com) |
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| Herb-Robert |
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| Marsh Marigold, first I've seen on Iffley Meadows. |
I watched the appearance, later than usual, of the fritillaries in Iffley Meadows along the Thames. The official count took place on 30th April and reported a surprising 67000 plants.
April 24th
May 1st
Fritillary watchers
'Fritillaria meleagris is a species of flowering plant in the family Liliaceae. Its common names include snake's head fritillary, snake's head (the original English name), chess flower, frog-cup, guinea-hen flower, leper lily (because its shape resembled the bell once carried by lepers), Lazarus bell, checkered lily or, in northern Europe, simply fritillary.'(Wiki)
I was sure Edward Thomas would mention these very special flowers in his book 'Oxford', probably in writing about Magdalen College or even about rowing, as they were prolific in his time at Oxford. But I couldn't find them with a fairly cursory look - maybe they are there.
A lovely picture - mistletoe too:
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| Oxford OPENGUIDES.com
We know from Eleanor Farjeon that Edward's daughter Bronwen shared his enthusiasm and knowledge and that she was shocked at the Londoner Eleanor's lack of it. Bronwen set out to teach and test her on her learning, picking and teaching her a hundred flowers, then next day sitting her down to her examination 'with the numbered specimens laid out in precise order on the table.' Edward found her struggling over ' agrimony, mouse-eared hawk weed, birdfoot trefoil, and went off laughing to dig potatoes till my hour was up.'
Eleanor Farjeon, The Last Four Years. Sentinel.
Poem - the legacy poem to Bronwen.
Ownership of property was an abomination to Thomas so the rents are absurd. The gorse or furze is in flower all year of course. The conditions he imposes, unlike the near-impossible conditions of fairy-tales, are easy.
The place-names come from the area around Hare Hall Camp, Essex.
If I should ever by chance grow rich
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guardian.co.uk-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oxfordshire ArtWeeks
Saturday, May 4, 2013
ArtWeeks, Oxford in Marc's exhibition: Oxfordshire Artweeks/galleries/marc-Thompson-oas
I have put 'Dawn, May Hill' along with some copies of A Conscious Englishman, and the review from the Times Literary Supplement, Oxford Times, Linda Newbery etc.
Open from 4th -12th May, 12-6, 8pm on Thursday. details.
http://www.artweeks.org/festival/2013/marc-thompson-oas
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Edward Thomas news: I was yesterday at an Oxford Centre for Life Writing workshop with Carmen Bugan and Hermione Lee.
The Edward Thomas scholar, Lucy Newlyn, was there (editor of 'Oxford') and we talked again about how we must pursue the idea of a plaque on Edward's student home, 113 Cowley Road. Lucy told me that she had visited it with Edna and Michael Longley and that that they were very taken with the house.
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| 113 Cowley Road, Oxford |
Lucy talked of a petition and I have contacted someone locally who I think may be able to help with the Housing Association (a2Dominion) which owns the house.
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| Design, Richard Morley, still waiting to carve it. |
Edward Thomas admirers will be pleased with the recognition. As Lucy said, Oxford is in one sense where his problems began, but it is more than that too.
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