I Never Saw that Land Before

Edward Thomas 1878 (London Borough of Lambeth) – 1917 (Pas-de-Calais)



I never saw that land before,
And now can never see it again;
Yet, as if by acquaintance hoar
Endeared, by gladness and by pain,
Great was the affection that I bore

To the valley and the river small,
The cattle, the grass, the bare ash trees,
The chickens from the farmsteads, all
Elm-hidden, and the tributaries
Descending at equal interval;

The blackthorns down along the brook
With wounds yellow as crocuses
Where yesterday the labourer's hook
Had sliced them cleanly; and the breeze
That hinted all and nothing spoke.

I neither expected anything
Nor yet remembered: but some goal
I touched then; and if I could sing
What would not even whisper my soul
As I went on my journeying,

I should use, as the trees and birds did,
A language not to be betrayed;
And what was hid should still be hid
Excepting from those like me made
Who answer when such whispers bid.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

47 sec read
112

Quick analysis:

Scheme AXAXA BCBCX DXDCX EFEFE GHGHG
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 846
Words 158
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Edward Thomas

Philip Edward Thomas was an Anglo-Welsh poet and essayist. more…

All Edward Thomas poems | Edward Thomas Books

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