A very happy 2022 to you and your family Malcolm! The ‘two roads in a yellow wood’ was my senior year English project, I recorded my best attempt at an enigmatic voice on a cheap tape recorder, thankfully lost to time. Thankyou for sharing this beautiful stop in Adlestrop.
What a gentle, beautiful evocation of a moment - I can almost hear the birdsong, in the heat, with the steam, expanding out. Thank you, that was lovely!
Thank you Malcolm 😊🤗. When we planned her funeral a number of years ago Mum asked for 'The road less taken' to be read at her funeral, but I think that if she'd discovered you earlier, she would have chosen one of yours - she loved and appreciated your poems, even when dementia had taken away so many other things xx
At Clyde Valley Community Church in Motherwell this week Kevin Simpson preached a wonderful sermon to us on The Mustard Seed and this beautifully dovetailed with that. Tiny seeds from which something much bigger and very beautiful grows. And the Two Roads poem by Robert Frost was a wonderful piece of information as it is one of my favourite poems. I had never heard of Adlestrop nor Edward Thomas so thank you once again for expanding my world. Good to have you back.
What a glorious video! I love the way you discuss poetry and I can remember my English teacher at school introducing us to this poem, too. Wonderful! 🙏🏻
Being from the United States, I don’t know that I’d’ve ever heard of this lovely poem had it not been for Welsh actor Matthew Rhys’ recommendation of the Richard Burton reading. Mr. Rhys’ urging compelled me to seek it out. I love it. I found Burton’s recitation soothing, especially the ending. This video of yours, Malcolm, with its history and beautifully cadenced, wistful recitation, makes me love it even more. I simply must journey to Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire someday. It may be Mr. Rhys’ favorite poem, and is fast becoming mine, though I find myself at a snowy woods trying to decide how it ranks next to a certain Frost poem. I’m in no hurry to decide… ever. And I’m okay with that.
Aman, a man! A silly little man… all books in his head, & a pipe in his hand. Silly and little? No, sturdy and grand! With a heart brawned & taller than I could dream stand! Always a pleasure to visit your study Mr. Guite, Thanks for taking a moment to let me drop on by🤍
Evening Malcolm, happy 2022 to you! Yes, I remember Adelstrop from 1977 'O'-level English Literature! I had an inspirational teacher at the time; we all remember the good teachers, and the bad, but tend to forget the middling ones. A nice pipe and tobacco, Malcolm. I'm indulging in Peterson's University Flake at the moment. God bless and happy puffing! .
Happy New Year Malcolm. Thank you for the reminder of a wonderful poem. I remember coming across one of Thomas’s poems in All Saints Church in the village of Steep in Hampshire.
For me it's the unexpected pleasure of birdsong filling the silence, inspired in the same way perhaps as Keat's Nightingale, both masterpieces. My understanding is Thomas jotted down his sense impressions at the time and later constructed them into a poem, underlying the importance of always carrying paper and pencil. You have no idea when that moment will arrive.
Malcom, I'm a young man from the United States who has always loved literature, poetry, and all of the wonderful things there within, but I rarely get time to study such things. I love your videos though, and at the risk of being macabre, the understanding that there will come a day when you are no longer here to make these expressions of love for literature fills me with woe. Although, certainly, I hope that time is a long time off. Thank you for your wisdom and insight into both literature and the Lord's word and creation. Though I may miss some videos here and there, you, and your channel, are incredibly meaningful to me!
@@MalcolmGuitespell And thank you for this channel and what you do Malcom, it has to be my favorite on the whole site. You have a great taste in literature and a wonderful way of writing. So too, am I thankful for words of faith you present, that we can all learn from. I wish I could have a pint and a pipe with you in person!
A beautiful reflection on a beautiful poem - thank you, Malcolm. I would thoroughly recommend the wonderful biography of Edward Thomas, "Now All Roads Lead To France" by Matthew Hollis (I'm sure you know it). A few years ago I wrote a haiku version of "Adlestrop" of which I am unwontedly (and unwantedly!) "proud" 😄 Yes. I remember/Adlestrop-The name-remains./No station-no trains.
One of my very favourite poems ever! I have only yesterday discovered Frost,s piem that includes a reference toa tiny calf who totters when its mother licks him x concludes ,,you come too,,. My reading about Frost x thomas,s friendship is so poignant. Thomas,s flowers not picked by soldiers x their sweethears poem has the mood of Ledwedges lament for mcdonagh x he too died so tragically.
Hi, I just found your videos whilst searching for different readings of Adlestrop. Loved the matchbox so much I just had to see if I could get one. Arrived today 😁. I have now been looking through your other videos. So many little treasures on you tube. Thank you.
This is wonderful, Mr. Guite. This was truly delightful. Thank you for the wonderful reading of the poem and the background you provide. I wrote two posts on my blog on Edward Thomas. UA-cam doesn't allow posting links. The name of the blog is leafwhelmed, a reader's asylum.
My favorite channel....I have a first edition of, 'The Cause' Poems of the War'....Laurence Binyon...1917....After I purchased this book, i found a letter in the book, that Binyon wrote to a friend, while Binyon was in Chicago & headed back to NYC....
Thank you for sharing the poem and its story. It’s a beautiful piece with a subtle rhythm and alliterations. Although, as you say, it’s not a “war poem,” we can guess that the poet was observing the minutiae of this village as he readied himself for combat. It put me in mind of a very different but equally poignant war poem, Alan Seeger’s ‘I Have a Rendezvous with Death.’
Thank you for choosing this poem to share with us and Happy New Year! I teach this poem to my English literature students as a kind of transitional mid-point between the optimistic, nationalistic early WWI Rupert Brooke poem, "The Soldier," and the more realistic-even cynical-trench poems of the fighting poets later ("To His Love," "Dulce et Decorum Est," etc.). "Adlestrop" has a sense of foreboding for the horrors to come and a wistfulness about the home that is being left behind, but the men seem resolved to their duty (no complaining, "no one left," only the clearing of a throat).
A striking, matchless, illuminating poem that opens a window onto a magical moment in time, platformed and surrounded the contours of encircling birdsong both seen and heard in the minds eye. What a great loss to poetry Edward Thomas was. Thank you for the backstory and inspiring insights Malcolm via Jackie Duckworth’s enchanting artwork.
A lovely reading of the poem, Malcolm. Well done! I’m curious about the pronunciation of “unwontedly”, though: Two other readings on UA-cam (Richard Burton and Geoffrey Palmer-with whose readings yours easily stands up to comparison in my opinion) also render the second syllable sounding as “won’t”; shouldn’t it rhyme with “font”? I wonder if it’s simply because it’s an uncommon word in everyday speech. After all, isn’t the phrase, “As is his wont”, normally pronounced to rhyme with “font” rather than “won’t”?
That was beautiful, and for some reason (this is why AI will never eat us completely, the mind moves so quirkily) made me think of Robert Bly's translation of Rilke, which sent me to find this ua-cam.com/video/XS-6q4cvv1k/v-deo.html We lost Robert Bly this past winter. He had suffered from dementia for 14 years, and left the earth peacefully, surrounded by his family singing "Hallelujah" (Leonard Cohen's I'm sure) Thank you Malcolm!
Aldershot I think. But Surry does have it's own versions of Adlestrop ..Haslemere might fit the bill..I can almost hear all the birds of Surry and Hampshire as I drift in my imagination. I also imagine Haslemere to be where The Mole, Ratty and Toad pulled up on their lonely heath in their canary coloured cart. Wonderful and powerful imagery.
Yes, I realised afterwards that I'd got the yellow woods and the snowy woods confused! Well spotted. It was of course 'The road Not Taken' and not 'whose woods these are I think I know' that was the poem I meant
ADLESTROP ... and all the birds of Oxfordshire & Gloucestershire.
Truly enjoyed the recounting you gave and showing of the beautiful matchbox.
Thank you kindly!
A very happy 2022 to you and your family Malcolm! The ‘two roads in a yellow wood’ was my senior year English project, I recorded my best attempt at an enigmatic voice on a cheap tape recorder, thankfully lost to time. Thankyou for sharing this beautiful stop in Adlestrop.
What a gentle, beautiful evocation of a moment - I can almost hear the birdsong, in the heat, with the steam, expanding out. Thank you, that was lovely!
Thank you for this moment of sheer beauty and luminous feeling all wrapped up in a matchbox ! Brilliant !
Thank you Malcolm 😊🤗.
When we planned her funeral a number of years ago Mum asked for 'The road less taken' to be read at her funeral, but I think that if she'd discovered you earlier, she would have chosen one of yours - she loved and appreciated your poems, even when dementia had taken away so many other things xx
thanks Anna!
At Clyde Valley Community Church in Motherwell this week Kevin Simpson preached a wonderful sermon to us on The Mustard Seed and this beautifully dovetailed with that. Tiny seeds from which something much bigger and very beautiful grows. And the Two Roads poem by Robert Frost was a wonderful piece of information as it is one of my favourite poems. I had never heard of Adlestrop nor Edward Thomas so thank you once again for expanding my world. Good to have you back.
What a lovely poem. I’m also very fond of that pipe, I think I’ll make a note of that for my next purchase.
What a glorious video! I love the way you discuss poetry and I can remember my English teacher at school introducing us to this poem, too. Wonderful! 🙏🏻
A Wonderful Poem That Acts Like A Snapshot That We Can Endlessly Savor .....like a fine Aged Tin Of Escudo 📣📣📣📣
Being from the United States, I don’t know that I’d’ve ever heard of this lovely poem had it not been for Welsh actor Matthew Rhys’ recommendation of the Richard Burton reading. Mr. Rhys’ urging compelled me to seek it out. I love it. I found Burton’s recitation soothing, especially the ending. This video of yours, Malcolm, with its history and beautifully cadenced, wistful recitation, makes me love it even more. I simply must journey to Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire someday. It may be Mr. Rhys’ favorite poem, and is fast becoming mine, though I find myself at a snowy woods trying to decide how it ranks next to a certain Frost poem. I’m in no hurry to decide… ever. And I’m okay with that.
A beautiful reflection on a golden poem! Thank you, Malcolm!
Aman, a man! A silly little man…
all books in his head, & a pipe in his hand.
Silly and little? No, sturdy and grand!
With a heart brawned & taller than I could dream stand!
Always a pleasure to visit
your study Mr. Guite,
Thanks for taking a moment
to let me drop on by🤍
thanks!
That was a lovely poem. Thank you for sharing, Malcolm.
This really made my day! .. Thank you.
Evening Malcolm, happy 2022 to you!
Yes, I remember Adelstrop from 1977 'O'-level English Literature! I had an inspirational teacher at the time; we all remember the good teachers, and the bad, but tend to forget the middling ones.
A nice pipe and tobacco, Malcolm. I'm indulging in Peterson's University Flake at the moment.
God bless and happy puffing!
.
wow! that's a strong tobacco!
Happy New Year Malcolm. Thank you for the reminder of a wonderful poem. I remember coming across one of Thomas’s poems in All Saints Church in the village of Steep in Hampshire.
An engaging and loving appraisal Malcolm, and so well read. Thankyou x x
For me it's the unexpected pleasure of birdsong filling the silence, inspired in the same way perhaps as Keat's Nightingale, both masterpieces. My understanding is Thomas jotted down his sense impressions at the time and later constructed them into a poem, underlying the importance of always carrying paper and pencil. You have no idea when that moment will arrive.
yes I think those two poems are equally inspired!
Lovely. Looking forward to this already. One of my favourite poems.
Malcom, I'm a young man from the United States who has always loved literature, poetry, and all of the wonderful things there within, but I rarely get time to study such things. I love your videos though, and at the risk of being macabre, the understanding that there will come a day when you are no longer here to make these expressions of love for literature fills me with woe. Although, certainly, I hope that time is a long time off. Thank you for your wisdom and insight into both literature and the Lord's word and creation. Though I may miss some videos here and there, you, and your channel, are incredibly meaningful to me!
thank you. perhaps these videos, and, I hope, my poems will still be there for people after I'm gone!
@@MalcolmGuitespell And thank you for this channel and what you do Malcom, it has to be my favorite on the whole site. You have a great taste in literature and a wonderful way of writing. So too, am I thankful for words of faith you present, that we can all learn from. I wish I could have a pint and a pipe with you in person!
A beautiful reflection on a beautiful poem - thank you, Malcolm.
I would thoroughly recommend the wonderful biography of Edward Thomas, "Now All Roads Lead To France" by Matthew Hollis (I'm sure you know it).
A few years ago I wrote a haiku version of "Adlestrop" of which I am unwontedly (and unwantedly!) "proud" 😄
Yes. I remember/Adlestrop-The name-remains./No station-no trains.
that's a fine Haiku, and sadly, only too true
One of my very favourite poems ever! I have only yesterday discovered Frost,s piem that includes a reference toa tiny calf who totters when its mother licks him x concludes ,,you come too,,. My reading about Frost x thomas,s friendship is so poignant. Thomas,s flowers not picked by soldiers x their sweethears poem has the mood of Ledwedges lament for mcdonagh x he too died so tragically.
Wonderful. Happy New Year Malcolm!
Wonderful poem. Wonderful story about Thomas and Eliot. Wish I’d had an Eliot to advise me.
Hi, I just found your videos whilst searching for different readings of Adlestrop. Loved the matchbox so much I just had to see if I could get one. Arrived today 😁. I have now been looking through your other videos. So many little treasures on you tube. Thank you.
Welcome aboard!
One could make , and probably already has, an anthology of rail poems: Larkin's weddings, that Betjeman one, Auden's Night mail.
yes indeed!
This is wonderful, Mr. Guite. This was truly delightful. Thank you for the wonderful reading of the poem and the background you provide.
I wrote two posts on my blog on Edward Thomas. UA-cam doesn't allow posting links. The name of the blog is leafwhelmed, a reader's asylum.
I'll check it out!
Hello!
Very nice thx, greetings from Austria
Love this poem, many thanks for your insight to this masterpiece
My pleasure!
My favorite channel....I have a first edition of, 'The Cause' Poems of the War'....Laurence Binyon...1917....After I purchased this book, i found a letter in the book, that Binyon wrote to a friend, while Binyon was in Chicago & headed back to NYC....
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for sharing the poem and its story. It’s a beautiful piece with a subtle rhythm and alliterations.
Although, as you say, it’s not a “war poem,” we can guess that the poet was observing the minutiae of this village as he readied himself for combat.
It put me in mind of a very different but equally poignant war poem, Alan Seeger’s ‘I Have a Rendezvous with Death.’
Thank you for choosing this poem to share with us and Happy New Year! I teach this poem to my English literature students as a kind of transitional mid-point between the optimistic, nationalistic early WWI Rupert Brooke poem, "The Soldier," and the more realistic-even cynical-trench poems of the fighting poets later ("To His Love," "Dulce et Decorum Est," etc.). "Adlestrop" has a sense of foreboding for the horrors to come and a wistfulness about the home that is being left behind, but the men seem resolved to their duty (no complaining, "no one left," only the clearing of a throat).
sounds to me like you teach this poem very well!
Wonderful poem for the New Year! And a Happy New Year to you!
Happy new year!
Thank you. Very clear and enjoyable summary and explanation.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Hey Malcom, I really enjoyed this one and shared it with my coworkers (all biologists). They really loved it as well. Cheers!
So glad that you're back :)
A striking, matchless, illuminating poem that opens a window onto a magical moment in time, platformed and surrounded the contours of encircling birdsong both seen and heard in the minds eye.
What a great loss to poetry Edward Thomas was.
Thank you for the backstory and inspiring insights Malcolm via Jackie Duckworth’s enchanting artwork.
Beautiful
I drove through Addlestrop earlier this year, after reading the poem. Not sure that I found it, or if I did, it was totally unremarkable.
ah but the thing is not to drive through, but to stop. And then, in the silence the unremarkable becomes remarkable!
I'm new to this channel. I absolutely LOVE each and every video!
Welcome!!
Do you recommend Kendal Black Cherry ?
A lovely reading of the poem, Malcolm. Well done! I’m curious about the pronunciation of “unwontedly”, though: Two other readings on UA-cam (Richard Burton and Geoffrey Palmer-with whose readings yours easily stands up to comparison in my opinion) also render the second syllable sounding as “won’t”; shouldn’t it rhyme with “font”? I wonder if it’s simply because it’s an uncommon word in everyday speech. After all, isn’t the phrase, “As is his wont”, normally pronounced to rhyme with “font” rather than “won’t”?
Happy New Year Professor Guite
Happy new year!
This guy notices things
That was beautiful, and for some reason (this is why AI will never eat us completely, the mind moves so quirkily) made me think of Robert Bly's translation of Rilke, which sent me to find this ua-cam.com/video/XS-6q4cvv1k/v-deo.html We lost Robert Bly this past winter. He had suffered from dementia for 14 years, and left the earth peacefully, surrounded by his family singing "Hallelujah" (Leonard Cohen's I'm sure) Thank you Malcolm!
oh, fabulous to know that he was singing that song!!
Malcolm, isn't Adlestrop the place where Sherlock Holmes solves the Case of the Crooked Man?
Il look and see
Aldershot I think. But Surry does have it's own versions of Adlestrop ..Haslemere might fit the bill..I can almost hear all the birds of Surry and Hampshire as I drift in my imagination. I also imagine Haslemere to be where The Mole, Ratty and Toad pulled up on their lonely heath in their canary coloured cart. Wonderful and powerful imagery.
Beautiful backstory for a gorgeous poem! But be careful Malcolm; your comment about “The Road Not Taken” was not quite accurate.
Yes, I realised afterwards that I'd got the yellow woods and the snowy woods confused! Well spotted. It was of course 'The road Not Taken' and not 'whose woods these are I think I know' that was the poem I meant
Too slow .