Letter from Edward Thomas to the poet Gordon Bottomley. Sent from Rose Acre, Bearsted Green, Maidstone, Kent. Archival ref: 424/1/1/1/10/2
Rose Acre
Bearsted
nr Maidstone

17.x.1902

Dear Gordon Bottomley,

I have just got your letter:
I cannot thank you for it more plainly than by
saying that I can write back as easily as a
wall makes an echo. But I am in the midst
of a heavy piece of work (reviewing) and must
not spend any time on your letter or my book,
though my thought are there - I opened the
play and saw

... Past where the imaged man shakes like a soul
Pausing in death between two unknown worlds.

So I am sure I can thank you for the gift as
well as the giving & very heartily. In a week's
time I shall be free, I hope, and shall write
again. But I will not promise you any
criticism. For though I have to live by reviewing,
I am by nature most uncritical. I read very much
as I eat, & all I know is that a book feeds
me or it does not. In my daily work I blame the
books that do not feed me, though I have not more right to than to blame claret because
it leaves an unpleasant taste in my mouth
Still, perhaps I know something about technique.
Helen sends her love & her thanks with
mine. So would Mervyn if he could.

Edward Thomas.

P. S. Do you know "Kentucky Poems" by Madison
Cawein. If you don't, I shall give you a copy.