Letter from Edward Thomas to the poet Gordon Bottomley. Sent from Elses Farm, The Weald, Kent. Archival ref: 424/1/1/1/10/41
The Weald
4.ix.05

My dear Gordon
I wonder can you like any
of this thing (excluding the name).
It is recent - 2 weeks old. I have a
notion that is ought to be a more complete
picture than it is, & that it fails because
it hovers between the reflective & the
picturesque without combining them. Since
writing it I have done two others - one
suburban (a beggar suggesting to a boy
all travel & adventure & liberty as he passes
down the street), & one a dawn.
It annoys me that I stick so to short things
now - between 500 & 900 words -
By the way, put a pencil mark alongside
what annoys you & explain or not, as you
like.
How odd that you find the
Electrician 'healthy but limited' - 'like
Sanitas? I saw him twice last week in
town. Certainly he is limited. Perhaps
I alarm him by advice - did you know I give
advice? Anyhow, he gives me confidences
so obviously imperfect that I wish I could never
see him again.
I saw Balmer, too, & took Freeman

with me. But Balmer was interrupted as well
as she & in 10 minutes there was nothing
to do but to go in a serio-comic atmosphere of
my making. I promised to go again next day
& couldn't manage it.
Sunday I shall collect my small
things & call them 'Illusions',
with the subtitle (my own) of 'Ejaculations
in prose'. You shall see my others when
the are copies & have been duly rejected by
the world the press & the devil. Why will o
one print me?
Edward Garnett has introduced me to
Joseph Conrad's work. His 'Youth'
is magnificent - a young shipwrecked
sailor in a small boat, worn out, lying
in the bottom of his boat & getting his
first view of the East (palms & men) at
dawn.
Perhaps I shall write tonight - an
Illusion, not a review - so I hurry
off. Send back this M. S. when you can -
With my love to all of you - and
Helen's.
Ever yours
Edward Thomas