Fand Catalogue

Bright Clouds

Four Edward Thomas Songs

for voice and piano

John Mitchell

£9.95

Edward Thomas (1878–1917) is best known as a poet but was unusual in that he only started writing verse near the end of 1914 at the relatively late age of 36. Prior to that he had some success since 1897 as a prolific critic, biographer, writer on travel and nature and – with a single title to his credit – novelist. Much of his poetry is colloquial in style and often features aspects of the English countryside. In a two-and-a-half-year window (from 1914 until his death in action at the Battle of Arras in April 1917) he penned a total of 142 poems, the most well-known perhaps being Adlestrop and Lights out, both having been set to music by several composers.

Bright Clouds consists of four settings of Thomas’ verse, the first one written for his elder daughter, Bronwen. The places mentioned here are all in the Romford area of Essex (where Thomas had been posted following his enlistment in 1915). All four allude in various ways to his keen observations of nature and the rural English scene—to an early gathering-in of various spring flowers; to dust on nettles in a deserted farmyard; to an avian awareness of the passing of winter; and to the timeless sight of hawthorn blossom being gradually blown down onto a pond’s surface.

Sample pages

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Catalogue code: FM267 • Published: 21st July 2023
Entry last updated: 21st July 2023