Gavin Smithers

The Secret Code of Edward Thomas Gavin Smithers

Readers and critics of Edward Thomas' poetry have always faced an intriguing and apparently insoluble question: why did a man, aged, 37, who didn't have to go to war - and who wasn't moved by patriotism or even a belief that wars solved anything - volunteer? And then why did he take the even riskier option of signing up for the Western Front? By close analysis of Edward Thomas' poems ... I believe I have the answer: a Secret Code within his poems, left for us - people who understand the mechanics of his poetry - to discover! This short volume publishes this important discovery in time for the centenary of the start of World War 1. The Secret Code adds a new dimension to our understanding of how Edward Thomas viewed his own life and death. This thesis may be of interest to academics, students, historians and the general reader who just wants to enjoy Edward Thomas' work that bit more.