The Poets move away from Dymock
Jackie Tweedale
Rupert Brooke had come to the attention of the public when his poems appeared in New Numbers and when 2 of his poems, The Dead and The Soldier, appeared in The Times Literary Supplement. The Soldier was also read at St Paul’s Cathedral on Easter Sunday 1915 (April 9th). His most well-known collection of poetry was published in May 1915 and by 1918 had been reprinted 28 times.
In February 1915, Brooke sailed with the British Mediterranean Expeditionary Force which was on its way to Gallipoli. A brief stop in Egypt saw Brooke become ill with either dysentery or sunstroke. On April 10th, the fleet sailed for Greece. Brooke, still weak from his previous illness, developed sepsis from an infected mosquito bite. He died on 23rd April 1915, aged 27, on a French hospital ship moored off the island of Skyros. Brooke was buried on the island as the naval force had been ordered to leave immediately for the Dardenelles. The site for his grave was chosen by his friend Denis Browne, who had sat with him whilst he grew weaker and died. Brooke’s brother was also to die a few months later in France on June 1915.
On April 26th, Brooke’s obituary appeared in The Times written by Winston Churchill. It allowed the nation to grieve for all those men who had died fighting. Brooke’s death devastated his friends and family. Abercrombie, Gibson, Frost and Drinkwater all wrote poems to his memory. Brooke left a legacy to Abercrombie, Gibson and Walter de la Mare. He wrote to his mother and Edward Marsh requesting that the royalties of his poems go to his friends to “help them to write good stuff, instead of me”.1 This legacy enabled the poets to write and be unworried by finding the next pay cheque.
Edward Marsh came to Dymock in July 1915 to write a memoir of Brooke and he completed the draft in 8 days. The war dispersed the poets and the Dymock community gradually came to an end. Frost went back to America where he was to become one of the country’s most famous poets. The poets kept in touch by letter, meetings in London, and visits back to Gloucestershire. Frost returned to Dymock in 1928 and 1957. He met many old friends including John Haines and they climbed up to May Hill. Frost died in 1963 aged 88.
Edward Thomas enlisted in July 1915. He continued to write poetry with 6 poems being published under a pseudonym, Edward Eastaway. He never saw these poems published, as he was killed at the battle of Arras on April 9th 1917, aged 39. He left 144 poems, all written in 2 years.
Gibson tried several times to enlist but was turned down because of his poor eyesight. He had a volume of poetry published in 1915 called ‘Battle’. In September 1916 the family moved to West Malvern. In 1917 Gibson was accepted by the Army Corps and served for 2 years as a clerk. He continued to write after the war and lectured in America and did reading tours in England. His popularity as a poet waned and he died in 1962 in Surrey aged 84.
Abercrombie tried to enlist but was turned down on medical grounds. In March 1916 Abercrombie moved to Liverpool to work as a munitions factory inspector. His family stayed in Ryton until later in the year when they all move to Birkenhead leaving Ryton for good. Abercrombie visited the Dymock area again in 1919, staying at Crowfield Farm. He became a university professor at several universities. Both Gibson and Abercrombie stayed in touch with many of the village people that they had become friends with. He died in 1938 aged 58.
Drinkwater became a successful playwright and had much success in America and the West End. He found a new circle of friends and moved to the Cotswolds where William Rothenstein was trying to create a spiritual hub for artists and writers. Drinkwater died in 1937 aged only 55.
1Forever England: The Life of Rupert Brooke. Mike Read. Mainstream Publishing. 1997
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