Nature In Edward Thomas

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Nature Analysis in Edward Thomas Nature also outlasts the old agricultural ways which are dying out – demonstrated in this poem by the contrast in the second stanza of noise: ‘The clink, the hum, the roar, the random singing’ and by the silence in the third stanza: ‘the silent smithy.’ The sibilance here emphasizes the sleepy silence that has fallen over this agricultural area. In Aspens, Thomas portrays nature as powerful and eternally present. Whereas ‘the clink, the hum’ and ‘the roar’, of the village has turned to a ‘silent smithy’ and a ‘silent inn’, the ‘whisper of the Aspens is not drowned.’ As all of the men have gone to war, the village is ‘quiet’ showing the impact the war had on the country, repressing and crushing it. The sibilance here reflects how these man made ventures have been quelled into silence. But as the Aspens are ‘not drowned’ they have survived regardless. The word ‘drowned’ connotes the compressing death of the war, surrounding and chocking all in its path. However, even though nature is more powerful, it has been subdued and can only ‘whisper.’ Thomas makes the comment that despite all the changes in a rapidly modernizing world, there are some things man-kind can never destroy. The way Thomas describes the ‘cross roads’ turning in to a ‘ghostly room’ shows how he perhaps feels a hopeless inevitability after making his decision. It could also be interpreted that the height of the trees surrounding him and the empty town creates a ‘ghostly’ atmosphere in which he is contained. Moreover, as the cross roads, symbolizing choice and free will are replaced with a manmade structure, it is clear that the speaker is haunted by the future that lies ahead of him. Within a room, Thomas would be blocked off from the elements of nature he holds so dearly and so we get a sense of modernity intruding into his traditional English setting. The use
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