Re: The Rattle Bag: The C poems
Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 7:08 am
Oooh I love Edward Thomas! His best poems are always Countryside genre I think.
Coombs are mostly in the West Country at the very southern tip of England. I very pretty coastline, Cornwall and Devon with caves and little quiet beaches. The weather is warmer down there and we go there a lot for holidays. There is a very nice place called Combe Martin - very pretty.
Lancashire isn't flat at all, it is very hilly with lots of moorland. Not pretty countryside, much more windswept and rugged. Beautiful in its own way. Now Cheshire, where I have lived for the last 40 years, is mostly flat - there is the Cheshire Plain, so that there are hills like the one we used to live near, called Mow Cop - where if you climb to the top you can see four Counties. Cheshire, the plains, Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Lancashire. So we're told, anyway, because it's usually raining and you can't see a hand in front of your face.
The badger in the second poem is depicted as a typically English Wild Animal. They are one of our largest wild mammals and very engaging to watch. They usually live near running water and come out in the evening to play and feed. Unfortunately, they are blamed by the farmers for giving TB (tuberculosis), to the cattle, and although this is disputed, the farmers often cull the badgers although I do believe this has just been forbidden by our government.
Here is a video made by a Badger Watch (in Yorkshire I think), so you can see what Edward Thomas is saying about their being ancient and mysterious:
http://www.selbybadgerwatch.com/SELBY-B ... GER-VIDEOS
It does seem like a crime to kill them.
Coombs are mostly in the West Country at the very southern tip of England. I very pretty coastline, Cornwall and Devon with caves and little quiet beaches. The weather is warmer down there and we go there a lot for holidays. There is a very nice place called Combe Martin - very pretty.
Lancashire isn't flat at all, it is very hilly with lots of moorland. Not pretty countryside, much more windswept and rugged. Beautiful in its own way. Now Cheshire, where I have lived for the last 40 years, is mostly flat - there is the Cheshire Plain, so that there are hills like the one we used to live near, called Mow Cop - where if you climb to the top you can see four Counties. Cheshire, the plains, Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Lancashire. So we're told, anyway, because it's usually raining and you can't see a hand in front of your face.
The badger in the second poem is depicted as a typically English Wild Animal. They are one of our largest wild mammals and very engaging to watch. They usually live near running water and come out in the evening to play and feed. Unfortunately, they are blamed by the farmers for giving TB (tuberculosis), to the cattle, and although this is disputed, the farmers often cull the badgers although I do believe this has just been forbidden by our government.
Here is a video made by a Badger Watch (in Yorkshire I think), so you can see what Edward Thomas is saying about their being ancient and mysterious:
http://www.selbybadgerwatch.com/SELBY-B ... GER-VIDEOS
It does seem like a crime to kill them.