1. AS THE TEAMS HEAD BRASS
- EDWARD THOMAS
Page 180
Katia Scarpignato

3. EDWARD THOMAS
 Phillip Edward Thomas was an Anglo-Welsh
writer of prose and poetry. 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. He enlisted in the army
in 1915, and was killed in action during the
Battle of Arras in 1917, soon after he arrived in
France.
 In three years, he had written a lifetime's
poetry. The unusual shape of Thomas's poetic
career - at once belated and tragically up-to-
date - has made it difficult for critics to place
him.
 Thomas wrote „As the team‟s head brass‟ when
he was on the cusp of deciding to finish his
working with maps and to enlist in the army to
fight in France.
1878-
1917

4. CONTEXT AND INITIAL IMPRESSION
 What the poem is about:
 As a couple walk together into the woods beyond, a walker rests at the
edge of a field. There, a farmer is methodically ploughing his fields with a
team of horses, and the narrator and farmer fall into conversation about
the war.
 As the Team‟s Head Brass: The „team‟ are a pair of horses led by the
farmer, pulling a plough. The farmer is preparing his land for the sowing
of crops; in some ways, this seems to be a timeless agricultural scene.
The “head brass” are the metal bridles around the horses‟ heads that
allow the horses to be led.
 Initial Impression
 The readers first impression was that Thomas was recalling this event.
The poem tells story, the realism is depicted by adding intricate details
such as the „lovers disappeared into the woods‟. The first person
narrative used here enriches the poets recollection, it also adds realism
to the event. As the teams head Brass boarder's the questions of human
existence, survival, memory, and 'home' - which accounts for its
continuing influence today.

5. THEMES
 The use of Nature
 Indifference of War
 Futility of War
 Love
 Memory
 Human existence

6. ANALYSIS- STRUCTURE
 This is a narrative poem— it tells a short story. It is written in
Iambic Pentameter, and has a Shakespearian feel to it: everyday
events and dialogue are elevated to high poetry by Thomas‟ feel
for the significance of small things.
 “As the team‟s head brass flashed out on the turn”: Time is
important in this poem. The poem throws us into events
immediately occurring.. “I sat… and watched”: the peaceful
watching of the narrator as time passes by gives this poem a
thoughtful, ponderous(without liveliness) tone.
 The use of enjambment (running lines) is used as though
Thomas is unravelling his story, each line is a continuation. The
use of narrative is cathartic as though Thomas is revealing a
story that he feels is an important story to tell.
 The blizzard felled the elm…”: Thomas preserves the iambic
pentameter here as he moves forward in his narrative, beginning
a new line below. There is a sense of time having passed, but
also of continuity.

7. ANALYSIS- IMAGERY
 “Watched the plough narrowing a yellow square of charlock”:
charlock, or wild mustard, is a weed that must be cleared on
land for farming. Thomas‟ description of the “yellow square” of
weed is precise and vivid. Thomas suggests at first the peace
of the country as opposed to the cataclysm of World War One
but only does so to subvert(undermine) those conventions
through a realistic depiction of the effects of the war. English
agriculture had been in a long, steep decline since the mid-
Victorian age. The countryside was a difficult place to live in
1916: This fact the reader feels, is rather than an idealisation
of the country life which comes through in Thomas‟ poem.
 “The lovers disappeared into the wood.”: Lovers appear again
as key figures in a Thomas poem. We only see them at the
beginning and the end of the poem, but they are important
symbols of love, life and importantly rebirth.

8. ANALYSIS- LANGUAGE
 Now if he had stayed here we should have moved the tree.”
(referring the friend the famer lost)The irony is really at the
heart of the poem‟s narrative. The tragedy of the farmer‟s
friend‟s death is dominant in the poem, but is overcast by the
tragedy of the War.
 “Then the lovers came out of the wood again‟‟. The repetition
of the „lovers‟ seems to reinforce a sense of hope at the end of
the poem.
 „The blizzard‟ This is significant because the use of pathetic
fallacy demonstrates that catastrophe that is the War
surrounding them. The blizzard becomes symbolic and linked
to the devastating to the effects of the fighting on the front.
 „I watched the clods crumble and topple over‟ . The narrator in
the action of the plough now seems linked to change of the
war. The crumbling clods of earth and their toppling as they
fall from the plough suggest the change in the world by
humans; perhaps also suggesting the falling of men to earth in
fields abroad.

9. ANALYSIS
 One minute and an interval of ten…”: The rhythm of the
encounter is slow. The repetition emphasises this.
 “Only two teams work on the farm this year…”: The
significance of the single farmer working this large field
made it clear the shortage caused by the war. This
practical aspect is made immediately personal by the
farmer‟s dead friend.
 “…the stumbling team.”: The last line of the poem is
significant because the “stumbling” of the team suggest
the difficulty the farmer continues to face, and the loose
footing of life itself.
 „„One of my mates is dead. The second day
In France they killed him‟‟. The use of clipped syntax
stops the flow of the poem which suggests the farmer is
remembering the tragic death of his friend.

10. A PHASE THAT STANDS OUT TO THE
READER:
‘‘Then the lovers came out of the woods again’’. The
repetition of the ‘lovers’ seems to reinforce a sense of
hope at the end of the poem.
However it could also suggest how the youth were
blissfully unaware of the destruction that was
occurring around them. In times of havoc, the ‘lovers’
are continuing with their normal rituals and the reader
feels as though how did people continue in such a
normal fashion when a War is surrounding them. ?
Perhaps this is the heart of the message that Thomas
conveys, life goes on and whatever happens we must
try to move on and continue with our lives as best we
can.