Edward Thomas: If I Should Ever by Chance Grow Rich

Song Meaning

The speaker dreams of a future where wealth allows them to acquire a collection of idyllic-sounding place names: Codham, Cockridden, and Childerditch, along with Roses, Pyrgo, and Lapwater. This imagined fortune isn't for personal luxury but to bestow these lands upon their elder daughter. The core of this fantasy lies in a peculiar, almost whimsical form of rent. The narrator proposes a payment system based entirely on the natural world's first offerings of the year: violets, primroses, and orchises. It's a gentle, almost poetic transaction, suggesting a deep connection to nature and a desire for a pure, uncorrupted inheritance for their child.