Exercise book once belonging to Edward Thomas, containing autograph drafts, 1914, of two of his earliest poems 'The Mountain Chapel' and 'Birds' Nests', together with a draft, [1915], of 'House and Man'.
'The Mountain Chapel' material, dated 17 December 1914 (f. 2), seems to consist of an initial draft (ff. 1 verso-2, 3, 4), a second draft (ff. 5-6) with further revisions to the opening section only (f. 4 verso), and a final draft (ff. 2 verso, 3 verso) which closely corresponds to the published versions; it was first published in his Last Poems (London, 1918), pp. 62-63. The 'Birds' Nests' material, dated 18 December 1914 (on ff. 7, 8), consists of an early draft (f. 6 verso), a second draft (f. 7) and a final draft (f. 8); the latter is very close to the poem as first published in his Poems (London, 1917), p. 54, with only three substantive variants (lines 3, 7 and 15). The single, revised, draft of 'House and Man' (f. 7 verso) closely corresponds to the other known autograph copy in London, British Library Add. MS 44990, and the version printed in Last Poems (London, 1918), p. 90, except for the omission here of the last line-and-a-half ('…veering about, / A magpie like a weathercock in doubt'). 'House and Man' was first published, with a few variants, in Root and Branch, 1.4 (1915), 59, making it (jointly with 'Intervals') his first poem to see print. In The Collected Poems of Edward Thomas, ed. by R. George Thomas (Oxford, 1978) 'The Mountain Chapel' is poem No. 10 (pp. 44-47), 'Birds' Nests' is No. 9 (pp. 42-43) and 'House and Man' is No. 33 (pp. 104-105); the dating of the first two in the present manuscript suggests the conjectured chronological arrangement of that volume (and also Edward Thomas, The Annotated Collected Poems, ed. by Edna Longley (Tarset, 2008)), is incorrect.
Edward Thomas poetry manuscript
This material is held atNational Library of Wales / Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru
- Reference
- GB 210 NLW MS 24122B
- Dates of Creation
- 1914-[1915]
- Language of Material
- English
- Physical Description
- 8 ff. ; 200 x 165 mm.
Bedales School exercise book, green card covers; '[Name] Myfanwy Thomas [Subject] Drawing [Term] Yearly [Form] IV' (pencil, in hand of Myfanwy Thomas, on front cover); pencil sketch of a face in profile [?by Myfanwy Thomas] (on back cover).
- Location
- ARCH/MSS (GB0210)
Scope and Content
Note
Title based on contents.
Alternative Form Available
Digital version available: http://hdl.handle.net/10107/4919525 (viewed March 2019)
Physical Characteristics and/or Technical Requirements
Many leaves torn out. Bindings repaired at NLW (November 2018).
Custodial History
Given by Helen Thomas to Jack Haines in 1922 (see NLW MS 24123D, ff. 11-12).
Additional Information
Published