Nature
Adlestrop
From Poems (1917, as 'Edward Eastaway')
Yes. I remember Adlestrop--
The name, because one afternoon
Of heat the express-train drew up there
Unwontedly. It was late June.
The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat.
No one left and no one came
On the bare platform. What I saw
Was Adlestrop--only the name
And willows, willow-herb, and grass,
And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry,
No whit less still and lonely fair
Than the high cloudlets in the sky.
And for that minute a blackbird sang
Close by, and round him, mistier,
Farther and farther, all the birds
Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.
Codex Note
An express train stops unexpectedly at a country station on an afternoon in late June. The speaker sees only willows, meadowsweet and haycocks, and hears a blackbird and 'all the birds of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire'. Perhaps Thomas's most famous poem.
Cite this poem
MLA
Thomas, Edward. “Adlestrop.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/thomas_e/10/.
Chicago
Thomas, Edward. “Adlestrop.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/thomas_e/10/.
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