Edward Thomas: Poems Literary Elements

The poem ‘’Ambition’’ is told from the perspective of a first person narrator. The fact that the poem is related in such a way makes it appear even more personal and authentic.

The poem "As The Team's Head-Brass’’ is written in an iambic pentameter.

The song of the cocks in the poem ‘’Cock-Crow’’ is compared in the poem with a mighty sword, capable of inflicting damage. What this poem wants to transmit is the idea that the sound of the cocks makes everyone feels obliged to rise up and start working, almost as if they were threatened by a sword.

No alliteration and assonance can be found.

In the poem ‘’As the Clouds that are so light’’ the narrator talks about the clouds above him appear to always be light and clear. He goes as far as to create the idea that the clouds can give light just in the same way as the sun can. Ironically, this is not true as the narrator then goes to talk about how the clouds, instead of bringing light on earth, makes it dark and unwelcoming.

The poem ‘’And you, Helen’’ is a love poem addressed by the narrator to the woman he cares about, Helen. In this poem, the narrator lists all the things he is willing to give her.

The poem entitled ‘’As the Team’s Head Brass’’ is set in a field where the narrator meets with a farmer who is working. Because the farmer is out in the field plowing, we can assume that the conversation takes place in early spring.

The tone used in the poem ‘’April’’ is a lighthearted one and a happy one. This tone is used in this context to transmit the idea that love changes a person and the way a person perceives the world.

The protagonist in the poem ‘’Digging’’ is life and the antagonist is death.

The major conflict in the poem ‘’Cock-Crow’’ is between day and night or rather between activity and repose.

The poem ‘’Bird’s Nest’’ reaches its climax when the autumn winds come and uncover the nests built by the birds while also destroying some of them.

The fallen elm in the poem ‘’As The Team's Head-Brass’’ foreshadows the death of the farmer’s friend in the war. The elm is also used to foreshadow the ways in which the country will forever be changed by the war and by the lives lost in the war.

In the poem ‘’April’’, the narrator lists in the first stanza all the things he finds beautiful, including the smile someone gives after a fight, the sun and nature coming back to life. This all changes in the second stanza where the narrator calls his sweetheart, Emily, as being the most beautiful thing on this planet, thus making the first statement an understatement.

In the poem ‘’As the Clouds that are so light’’ the narrator ponders the importance of the clouds above and their power. The clouds have the power to bring darkness over the earth and also to affect it in ways the earth can’t affect the clouds above. The poetry is an allegorical one and can be read as a religious poem about the relationship between humans and Deities. The idea many have in mind is that the Deities are all powerful and can influence everything while the humans and everything in the world has no value in comparison with them. However, the narrator alludes that this is not always the truth. The reader is challenged to think is maybe the clouds will still have power or any value is the world and the humans would cease to exist. What this idea transmits is that while Deities do have power, if no one is left on this earth to fear them and to worship them, then they will have no value and power as well.

The term ‘’talk’’ is used in the poem ‘’Aspens’’ to make reference to the sound by the leaves as the wind blows.

We find a personification in the lines "The peering sun/Sees what has been done’’ in the poem ‘’After Rain’’.

We find a hyperbole in the poem ‘’Crock-Crow’’ in the line ‘’ To be cut down by the sharp ax of light’’.

We find onomatopoeia in the line "The clink, the hum, the roar, the random singing’’ in the poem ‘’Aspens’’.