ADLESTROP - Edward Thomas.

After Hardy's Darkling Thrush this just had to follow! Such a vivid and beautiful piece from the poet who, thanks to the efforts and the conviction of his friend Robert Frost, was published on both sides of the Atlantic just a very short interval before he was killed by a sniper's bullet in France.




Adlestrop station was opened by the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway in 1853 and closed by the British Railways Board to both goods and passenger traffic by 1966. It had become absorbed by the Great Western Railway and passed on to the Western Region of British Railways after nationalisation in 1948 .
In 1913 there were 23,440 route miles of railway in Britain - the time from which Thomas' poem dates. After Richard Beeching's report published 1963 (the chairman of Nationalised British Rail) the cuts became more savage. That year 324 miles (521 km) went and in 1964 another 1,058 miles (1,703 km). By 1975, the system had shrunk to almost half of the 1913 figure: 12,000 miles (19,000 km) of track and 2,000 stations; it has remained roughly this size ever since.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Now All Roads Lead to France
• Yes
• I remember Adlestrop
• Robert Frost
• Doctor Beeching
• Gloucestershire
• Oxfordshire
• the blackbird
• live poem.

[andrewnorris2]

Thomas came up in conversation just now and I immediately had to return to your reading, and recommend it. Yours is one of the few videos that stays with me. Beautiful

[Caspar33]

@andrewnorris2 If you don't know of the following then do a search. I've only seen extracts and heard pieces on Radio Four - since the upload I might add and it was extraordinarily moving.

'Now All Roads Lead to France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas', by Matthew Hollis.

(Also, currently working on a Saki piece from The Western Front).

[keanghiero]

GREAT performance, dear Fred.

Nice video. Nice poem. Well done.

All the best

Kean

[Caspar33]

@keanghiero Delighted you liked. Very best wishes to you over there.

[andrewnorris2]

This has been my all time favourite poem for years, I feel quite protctive of it and was at first reluctant to watch this video, but I am so pleased I did. Your reading and presentation is, for me, one of the best videos you have up loaded. Perhaps this is just because it is such a dear poem for me. But really your reading captures something of the whole mystery of that station atmosphere and sense of being in the centre of something quite spiritually profound. (to be continued)

[Caspar33]

@andrewnorris2 A pleasant surprise! I just keep seeing the little moments that could have been better but the poem is an absolute gem. All the best.

[Caspar33]

@Idlinfarm Aha, the real Meaning of SPELL-check? Keep taking the tablets! Seriously Ida, thanks alot. I'll try and oblige.

[Idlinfarm]

I'm enchanted and want more of this wonderful thing you do.

[andrewnorris2]

(continuation) I especially loved the way you read 'of heat'. That line always hangs suspended in the air for a moment whenever I read it, and I see it does for you too. Added to favourites since I will surely return often as this is the definative reading. Fantastic, Fred, and especially with the additional photographs and info. There was a R4 program years ago about this poem and station, I still remember it clearly.

[Caspar33]

Ah, the age of the steam locomotive! Noisy, the air alive with excitement, fumes and sparks an always an adventure. What Thomas does so well is to create the sudden silence following the unexpected stop. Many thanks.

[MiCanaldeArte]

Excellent documentary, very good images and information.

Thanks for sharing.

[Caspar33]

@Poemsapennyeach Thanks, Caspar.

[Caspar33]

Respond to this video... 

[Caspar33]

@HerAeolianHarp V. kind of you to say so. This sort of thing takes the place of directing for the theatre which I used to do. Then one always used to ask 1. Is the narrative clear? 2. Does it lead to a viable ending? and 3. Does this moment work...and this...and this? Art or just crazy obssession? Ha-ha!

[HerAeolianHarp]

Thank you for this reading, well done with the biographical information interspersed in text, the sound effects, and a respectful recital pace: your poetry videos unfold so beautifully.

[Poemsapennyeach]

Very nicely done and read...Casper..