Edward Thomas ( poet ) Philip Edward Thomas ( 3 March 1878 – 9 April 1917 ) was an Anglo - Welsh poet and essayist . He is commonly considered a war poet , although few of his poems deal directly with his war experiences . Already an accomplished writer , Thomas turned to poetry only in 1914 . In 1915 , he enlisted in the British Army to fight in the First World War and was killed in action during the Battle of Arras in 1917 , soon after he arrived in France . Life and career . Early life . Thomas was born in Lambeth , London . He was educated at Battersea Grammar School , St Paul ' s School in London and Lincoln College , Oxford . His family were mostly Welsh . He married while still an undergraduate and determined to live his life by the pen . He then worked as a book reviewer , reviewing up to 15 books every week . He was already a seasoned writer by the outbreak of war , having published widely as a literary critic and biographer as well writing on the countryside . He also wrote a novel , " The Happy - Go - Lucky Morgans " ( 1913 ) , a " book of delightful disorder " . Thomas worked as literary critic for the " Daily Chronicle " in London and became a close friend of Welsh tramp poet W . H . Davies , whose career he almost single - handedly developed . From 1905 , Thomas lived with his wife Helen and their family at Elses Farm near Sevenoaks , Kent . He rented to Davies a tiny cottage nearby , and nurtured his writing as best he could . On one occasion , Thomas even had to arrange for the manufacture , by a local wheelwright , of a makeshift wooden leg for Davies . Even though Thomas thought that poetry was the highest form of literature and regularly reviewed it , he only became a poet himself at the end of 1914 when living at Steep , East Hampshire , and initially published his poetry under the name Edward Eastaway . By August 1914 , the village of Dymock in Gloucestershire had become the residence of a number of literary figures , including Lascelles Abercrombie , Wilfrid Gibson and American poet Robert Frost . Edward Thomas was a visitor at this time . Thomas immortalised the ( now - abandoned ) railway station at Adlestrop in a poem of that name after his train made a stop at the Cotswolds station on 24 June 1914 , shortly before the outbreak of the First World War . War service . Thomas enlisted in the Artists Rifles in July 1915 , despite being a mature married man who could have avoided enlisting . He was unintentionally influenced in this decision by his friend Frost , who had returned to the U . S . but sent Thomas an advance copy of " The Road Not Taken " . The poem was intended by Frost as a gentle mocking of indecision , particularly the indecision that Thomas had shown on their many walks together ; however , most audiences took the poem more seriously than Frost intended , and Thomas similarly took it seriously and personally , and it provided the last straw in Thomas ' decision to enlist . Thomas was promoted corporal , and in November 1916 was commissioned into the Royal Garrison Artillery as a second lieutenant . He was killed in action soon after he arrived in France at Arras on Easter Monday , 9 April 1917 . Although he survived the actual battle , he was killed by the concussive blast wave of one of the last shells fired as he stood to light his pipe . W . H . Davies was devastated by the death and his commemorative poem " Killed In Action ( Edward Thomas ) " was included in Davies ' s 1918 collection " Raptures " . Thomas is buried in the Military Cemetery at Agny in France ( Row C , Grave 43 ) . Personal life . Thomas was survived by his wife , Helen , his son Merfyn , and his two daughters Bronwen and Myfanwy . Thomas also had an illegitimate daughter with his housekeeper , Anna Josephine Dineen , from Passage West , County Cork , Ireland . The daughter , also named Helen , was born on 20 September 1915 . After the war , Thomas ' widow , Helen , wrote about her courtship and early married life with Edward in the autobiography " As it Was " ( 1926 ) ; later she added a second volume , " World Without End " ( 1931 ) . Myfanwy later said the books were written by her mother as a form of therapy to help lift herself out of a deep depression to which she had succumbed following Thomas ' death . Helen ' s short memoir " My Memory of W . H . Davies " was published in 1973 . Her " Under Storm ' s Wing " was published in 1997 and is a collection of writings including the two earlier autobiographies along with various other writings and letters . Commemorations . Thomas is commemorated in Poets ’ Corner , Westminster Abbey , London , and by memorial windows in the churches at Steep and at Eastbury in Berkshire . East Hampshire District Council have created a " literary walk " at Shoulder of Mutton Hill in Steep dedicated to Thomas , which includes a memorial stone erected in 1935 . The inscription includes the final line from one of his essays : " And I rose up and knew I was tired and I continued my journey . " As " Philip Edward Thomas poet - soldier " he is commemorated with " Reginald Townsend Thomas actor - soldier died 1918 " ( who is buried at the spot ) and other family members at the North East Surrey ( Old Battersea ) Cemetery . He is also the subject of the biographical play " The Dark Earth and the Light Sky " by Nick Dear , premiering at the Almeida Theatre , London in November 2012 , with Pip Carter as Thomas and Hattie Morahan as his wife Helen . Poetry . Thomas ' s poems are noted for their attention to the English countryside and a certain colloquial style . The short poem at right is an example of how he blends war and the countryside throughout his poetry . On 11 November 1985 , Thomas was among 16 Great War poets commemorated on a slate stone unveiled in Westminster Abbey ' s Poet ' s Corner . The inscription , written by fellow Great War poet Wilfred Owen , reads : " My subject is War , and the pity of War . The Poetry is in the pity . " Thomas was described by Ted Hughes as " the father of us all . "