Letter from Edward Thomas to the poet Gordon Bottomley. Sent from Berryfield Cottage, Ashford, Petersfield, Hampshire. Archival ref: 424/1/1/1/10/77
BERRYFIELD COTTAGE
ASHFORD
PETERSFIELD

26.xii.06

My dear Gordon,
The photograph is very good &
a good picture too & Helen & I were
glad to have it this morning & send our
thanks to Emily for it with our love.
But I may still regret that you didn't meet
F H Evans & get him to inspect you. Perhaps
you will this next year. At any rate I
wish you the health for a journey. It
is nearly a year now since I saw you at
Cartmel & I reflect that I have had
one sight of you per annum since we
began to write. Then with luck I may see
you 30 or 40 times again - which makes
the future seem quite a desirable reversion.
But the present is of the old sort i even a
little worse, since I have had but one visit
from a friend since I came here, have had
so much work that only twice have I been
able to walk all day, & for some reason have
attained a degree of self consciousness beyond
the streams of avarice (which makes me
spend hours, when I ought to be reading or
enjoying the interlacing flight of 3
estrels, in thinking out my motives
for this or that act or woes in the past
until I long for sleep). Certainly I have
a devil as much as any man I ever read
of. But if there are devils there are no
exorcists, tho a kind friend wrote
to me lately to point out the security &
sweetness of his refuge in the far
bosom of the Church. I feel sure that my
salvation depends on a person, that
person cannot be Helen because she
has come to resemble me too much or at
least to play unconsciously the part of being
like me with a skill that could make
me weep. It is unlikely to be a woman
because a woman is but a human being
with the additional barricades of (1)
sex and (2) antipathy to me - as a
rule. And as to men - here I am
surrounded by schoolmasters, while in
town I can but pretend to pick up the threads
of ancient intercourse, a task as endless
as the counting of poppy seeds or plovers in
the air.---------------------------
I think you are right about David. But
there are fine things, in the new book 'The
Likeness', 'The Ox', 'Music', 'Parted" &
others , & I like 'Catharine'. He
will always observe & always feel, I think &
whether he grows much or not, it seems
likely that he will often attain simplicity
unawares. I must think out a just &
yet genial comment for his private eye. In
print I shall praise him mainly because
a review has to shout like an actor if he
is to be heard by the audience.
How is your Anthology? I have half
expected Guthrie to call (at your instigation).
Do you think we could do anything with one
another?
Oh, thank you for the Gem & the Prazer.
I wonder is the Miscellany worthy of its
great aim. The soft paper anticipates
part of a great millenial scheme of my own
I have written to Dent asking that a copy
of my book be sent to the Courier*
[* Liverpool]
but it
has very likely gone there & with other hands
already. If not Dent will sent it & I
trust your man* [Dixon Scott in pencil in margin] will get it. Salute him
for me. He belongs to a very small & very
secret society. So far my only intelligent
review is from the Atheneum & that is not
favourable. It objects to my 'sensuousness',
'love of colour', 'lyricism'. So far no
one has discovered 'The Ship, the chariot &
the plough' except you and me.
It is all right about your Poetry article.
As a matter of fact I am being hurried on by
the publishers, but I have only the first
¼ to get ready at once & there will be
no literary articles therein.
With our love & good wishes to you
& Emily & your father & mother &
Aunt Sarah
Yours & Emily's ever
Edward thomas