DYLAN MARLAIS THOMAS( 1914 – 1953 )

Dylan Thomas was one of the leaders of the New-Romantic Poets. He had a very stormy
life and died tragically in New York of brain damages caused by alcohol on November 9 th,
1953.
LIFE: He was born in Swansea, Wales, on 27th October, 1914. He did not go beyond
grammar school. After working as a reporter on a Swansea newspaper, he moved to
London and worked at the BBC writing some radio-plays. He was constantly in need of
money because he spent it as soon as he earned it, and further he was very fond of
drinking. Even after his marriage, he went on living a bohemian and penniless life quite
often depending on the generosity of his friends. After the Second World War he moved
toUSA and became very popular there taking on a series of public poetry readings. But the
alcohol had mined his health and he died inNew York at the age of 38.
WORKS: The most important part of his literary production consists of poetry, even if he
wrote prose works, a play and a number of film scripts. Among his prose works we can
mention Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog, an imaginary autobiography,
mocking Joyce in the title. Among his drama and film scripts we can mention Under
Milk Wood, a radio-play for voices recorded by Thomas himself. The most important
volumes of poetry are Eighteen Poems, Twenty-five Poems, The Map of
Love and Collected Poems.
FEATURES: To better understand his poetry, we have to focus on some elements of his
life. The first was his Welsh origin and his childhood spent in Swansea, in Southern
Wales, in close contact with the beautiful landscape of the coast and its people and
tradition (Wordsworth) but also a depressed area with unemployment and poverty.
His Welshness and his childhood remained one of the main sources of inspiration in his
poetry which was mainly nature poetry. The second element that affected his poetry was
the Second World War. When it broke out, Thomas fell into a deep state of depression
and became more socially committed. Many of the poems written during this period deal
with the tragic consequences of the War. The third element was his unconventional
life-style his fondness to alcohol and his constant need of money. As far as his
literary influences, they are described in an Essay titled Notes on the Art of Poetry. He
wrote that the main influences on him were the Bible, the Folk Tales and the Scottish
Ballads, Shakespeare, Blake’s Songs of Innocence, and the forces of Modernism in the
early decades of the century.
Thomas’s poetry is complex, difficult and not fully comprehensible even if it is based on
simple universal themes: love and suffering, birth and death, man and woman, sex and
the bond between the humans and the natural world, the innocence of childhood, the
corruption of the world, the never ending cycle of nature, creation and destruction. He
makes frequent use of imagery, powerful and suggestive but also obscure. The poet himself
was aware of it when he wrote: ‘My lines, all my lines are of the tenth intensity. They are
not the words that express what I want to express. They are only the words I can find that
come near to express a half.’ This is a good description of many of his poems where the
meaning is not fully clear. His poetry is seen as a natural organic process of constructive
and destructive images. Thomas wrote to a friend: “ A poem by myself needs a host of
images. … … I make an image and let it bread another. I let this image contradict the first.
… … I make a third and a fourth contradictory image and let them all conflict. Each image
holds within it the seeds of its own destruction; my method is a constant building up and
breaking down of images that come out of the central seed, which is itself destructive and
constructive at the same time“.
NATURE: Thomas reacted and opposed the social realism and political commitment of
the 1930s returning to themes of Nature. He sees Nature as a life-giving force, an energy
that flows through every living creature and unifies all things. It is connected with the life
itself, from birth to death. There is a certain unity between life and death, between creation
and destruction. Both life and death are involved in the same process of regeneration
driven by the Supreme Will who is at the heart of the universe. This superior Will drives
both vegetables and human life and it is preserver and destroyer at the same time
(Shelley). He believes in a cosmic nature where death isn’t seen as an end to living, but
as a metamorphosis into a perpetual life in a cosmic eternity.Death is only a stage in the
eternal cycle of living and dying which involves not only man but all nature. In And
Death Shall Have No Dominion (of one of his best known poems) the rebirth of man
takes place through Nature: “Dead men naked they shall be one/ With the men in the wind
and the west moon; / When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone. /They
shall have stars at elbow and foot … …’ and their heads will ‘hammer through daisies/
break in the sun till the sun breaks down“.
The unity between man and nature is also the main theme of The Force that Through
the Green Fuse Drives the Flower, in which man is seen immersed into nature,
involved in the natural process of the cycle of life and death: ” The force that … … drives the
flower/ drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees/ is my destroyer“.
Thomas’s message is contained in another poem, This Bread I Break, in which,
contrasting past and present, he laments about how man’s intervention on nature has
destroyed it. In the past man and nature lived within the merry cycle of natural life. Man
has shattered the natural harmony,”broke the grape’s joy … … broke the sun and pulled the
wind down“. Nature suffers at man’s hand, but notwithstanding that she makes a sacrifice
for man, then every man must make a sacrifice for the salvation of nature.Just as death
and life, man and nature coexist in the eternal cycle of destruction and creation.
THE ROLE OF THE POET: His idea on the role of the poet is rooted on the Welsh
tradition: the poet is a spiritual guide for the people; he is a bard endowed with a
visionary power and has the function of a prophet.
STYLE: Thomas loved words and music and considered his poems like songs. His poetry
is intensely musical. The importance of the musicality goes back to the influence of
the Mother Goose tales his parents taught him when he was a child. He was fascinated
by their acoustic effects because he thought that the musicality of words could help poetry
to reach people’s minds and soul long before the real meaning of words. He believed that a
poet was a singer of songs and used, as said before, to have public readings of his poems
aloud. He often revised and polished his verses taking into account that they had to be also
read aloud. He put particular attention to how they would sound.
THOMAS/THE ROMANTICS: Thomas shared many themes with the Romantics. Among
them, the most important are the conception of nature as a living force flowing through
everything, men, animals, plants and apparently inanimate objects and the idealization of
childhood seen as a mystical age in which the glory of creation shines through everything.
THIS BREAD I BREAK
This bread I break was once the oat, Questo pane che spezzo un tempo era avena,
This wine upon a foreign tree Questo vino su un albero straniero
plunged in its fruit; si immergeva nei suoi frutti;
Man in the day or wine at night L’uomo di giorno o il vento nella notte
laid the crops low, broke the grape’s joy. ha piegato le messi e spezzato la
gioia dell’uva
Once in this time wine the summer blood In questo vino, un tempo, il sangue
dell’estate
knocked in the flesh that decked the vine, pulsava nella carne che vestiva la vite;
Once in this bread Un tempo, in questo pane
the oat was merry in the wind; l’avena gioiva al vento;
Man broke the sun, pulled the wind down. L’uomo ha spezzato il sole e ha rovesciato
il vento.
This flesh you break, this blood you let Questa carne che spezzi, questo sangue
a Make desolation in the vein, cui lasci devastare le
vene, Were oat and grape Erano avena ed
uva born of the sensual root and sap; nati da radice e linfa
sensuali; My wine you drink, my bread you snap Bevete il mio vino,
mangiate il mio pane.
It was published in 1936 in the “25 Poems”. As in other poems, the main theme is the
analogy between the life of nature and the life of man: nature and man coexist just as life
and death coexist in the eternal cycle of destruction and creation.
The word that may help us to interpret the poem is ‘ONCE’, contained in the first two
stanzas. It contrasts past and present and let us see how man’s cruel intervention on nature
has destroyed it: man “broke the grape’s joy ….broke the sun and pulled the wind down”.
The oat and grape lived “merry in the wind”, then man’s destructiveness “broke the sun,
pulled the wind down”.
The Keywords of the poem are oat/grape/bread/wine/flesh/blood. Oat and grape,
the products of man’s tilling of the soil, are strictly connected with bread and the wine,
man’s fundamental physical survival . They stand respectively for Flesh and blood then
bread stands for man’s body and wine for man’s blood. This internal relationship between
the world of nature and the human one underlines that the essence of man and nature
is the same.
The analogy between bread/wine and flesh/ blood suggests a religious
interpretationreminding us of the dogma of the transubstantiation of the Catholic
Church. In the last stanza they become Christ’s flesh and blood as the host and wine in
the liturgy of the Mass:”My wine you drink, my bread you snap”. This allusion extends the
connection between the vegetal and animal world to the divine. The poet wants to point
out that nature suffers at man’s hand but it makes a sacrifice for man just as Christ himself
made a sacrifice for the salvation of mankind. Then every man must make a sacrifice for
the salvation of nature. The poet also involves the reader in the natural cycle when he
shifts from the “I” of line 1 to the “you” of line 11.
In the lines 11-12 there is an autobiographical reference: blood is referred to wine
that “make desolation in the veins”. It is a clear allusion to the self-destruction Thomas was
causing to himself by drinking too much wine.
AND DEATH SHALL HAVE NO DOMINION
And death shall have no dominion. E la morte non avrà dominio.
Dead men naked they shall be one I morti ignudi saranno tutt’uno
With the man in the wind and the west moon; Con l’uomo nel vento e la luna in occidente;
When their bones are picked clean Quando le loro ossa saranno spolpate
and the clean bones gone, e l’ossa pulite scomparse,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot; Stelle avranno essi al fianco e sotto i piedi;
Though they go mad they shall be sane, Benchè impazziscano, saranno sani di
mente,
Though they sink through the sea Benchè sprofondino nel mare,
they shall rise again; risaliranno a galla;
Though lovers be lost love shall not; Benchè gli amanti si perdano, l’amore no;
And death shall have no dominion. E la morte non avrà dominio.
And death shall have no dominion. E la morte non avrà dominio.
Under the windings of the sea Sotto i meandri del mare
They lying long shall not die windly; Giacendo a lungo non moriranno nel vento
Twisting on racks when sinews give way, Sui cavalletti contorcendosi mentre i
tendini cedono,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break; Legati a una ruota, non si spezzeranno;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two, La fede tra le loro mani si schianterà in due,
And the unicorn evils run them through; E l’unicorno del peccato li passerà da parte
a parte;
Split all ends up they shan’t crack; Distorti da ogni parte non si smembreranno;
And death shall have no dominion. E la morte non avrà dominio.
And death shall have no dominion. E morte non avrà dominio.
No more may gulls cry at their ears Più non potranno i gabbiani gridare ai
loro orecchi
Or waves break loud on the seashores; O l’onde non infrangersi fragorosamente a riva;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more Dove sbocciò un fiore mai più un fiore
Lift its head to the blows of the rain; Sfiderà i colpi della pioggia;
Though they be mad and dead as nails, Benchè siano pazzi e morti stecchiti,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies; Le teste di quei tali
spunteranno martellanti
dalle margherite;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down, Irromperanno al sole fin che il
sole sprofonderà,
And death shall have no dominion. E la morte non avrà Dominio.
The poem deals with the theme of the final redemption after death. The title is taken
from Saint Paul’s The Epistle to the Romans as translated by King James in his version
of the Holy Bible:”knowing that Christ being raised from the death, died no more, death
shall have no dominion on him”.
The title line opens and closes each stanza both to stress the immortality of the soul and
the triumph over death and to introduce the main theory of his philosophy, that is the idea
of birth and regeneration. It is an affirmation of faith in life: whatever suffering our body
withstood at death,” twisting on racks when sinews give way/ strapped to a wheel …… split
all ends up”, they shall not break and crack because they will become whole and sane again
at the resurrection.
To stress that death will be always defeated the poet uses in the first two stanzas
contrasting images: “ Though they go mad they shall be sane / Though they sink through
the sea they shall rise again/ Though lovers be lost love shall not /……lying long shall not
die/ strapped to a wheel shal not break/ split all ends up shall not crack”; the use
of anaphora in the first stanza(Though….Though …Though)reinforces the idea of the
triumph over death.
The poem is made up of elaborate images where death isn’t seen as an end to living but as
a metamorphosis into a perpetual life in a cosmic eternity.
The rebirth takes place through nature: “ Dead man naked ……when their bones are
picked clear and the clear bones gone” they will be one with the wind and the stars, “they
shall have stars at elbow and foot” and their heads “ will hammer through daisies and
break in the sun till the sun breaks down “.
The poem opens in a biblical style with an ‘and’ followed by an imperative like in ten
commandments. This opening places the poem in a timeless context.
In line 3 the poets dislocates two terms may be to obtain unexpected meanings. The man in
the moon and the west wind become “the man in the wind and the west moon”. The man in
the moon refers to the human face suggested by the moon’s surface. This image linked to
the other image, “stars at elbow and foot”, makes man become part of the universe.
THE HUNCHBACK IN THE PARK
1 A solitary mister un signore solitario
Propped between trees and water puntellato tra alberi e acqua
From the opening of the garden lock dall’apertura del lucchetto
That lets the trees and water enter che l’acqua e gli alberi fa entrare
Until the Sunday sombre bell at dark fino alla cupa, a sera, campana domenicale
7 Eating bread from a newspaper Mangiava pane da un giornale,
Drinking water from the chained cup beveva acqua dalla tazza incatenata
That the children filled with gravel che i bambini riempivano di ghiaia
In the fountain basin where I sailed my ship nella vasca della fontana dove salpavo
la mia barca
Slept at night in a dog kennel Dormiva di notte in un canile
But nobody chained him up. ma nessuno lo incatenava.
13 Like the park birds he came early Come gli uccelli del parco mattiniero,
Like the water he sat down come l’acqua sedentario
And Mister they called Hey Mister E Signore chiamavano ehi Signore
The truant boys from the town gli scolari vagabondi
Running when he had heard them clearly scappando quando li aveva uditi
On out of sound fuori portata di voce
19 Past lake and rockery Oltre il laghetto e i finti scogli,
Laughing when he shook his paper gobbi per burla, ridendo quando
Hunchbacked in mockery agitava il giornale, dentro lo zoo chiassoso
Through the loud zoo of the willow groves del boschetto di salici, sfuggendo
Dodging the park keeper al guardiano del parco col bastone
With his stick that picked up leaves. con cui raccoglieva le foglie.
25 And the old dog sleeper E il buon cane solitario
Alone between nurses and swans sonnecchiava tra cigni e bambinaie
While the boys among willows mentre i ragazzi tra i salici
Made the tigers jump out of their eyes lanciavano tigri dagli occhi
To roar on the rockery stones a ruggir sugli scogli ed i boschetti
And the groves were blue with sailors erano blu di marinai.
31 Made all day until bell time Per tutto il giorno fino alla campana
A woman figure without fault una figura perfetta di donna,
Straight as a young elm alta e diritta come un giovane olmo,
Straight and tall from his crooked bones dalle sue ossa contorte creava,
That she might stand in the night che potesse restare la notte,
After the locks and chains dopo i lucchetti e le catene,
37 All night in the unmade park tutta la notte nel parco disfatto,
After the railings and shrubberies dopo che le inferriate e le macchie d’arbusti
The birds the grass the trees the lake gli uccelli l’erba gli alberi il laghetto
And the wild boys innocent as strawberries e i ragazzacci innocenti come fragole
Had followed the hunchback seguito avessero il gobbetto
42To his kennel in the dark. al suo canile nel buio.
(Trad. di A. Marianni)
This poem is contained in the collection Deaths and Entrances published in 1946.
Unlike other poems by Thomas, it is more easily understandable.The poet is recollecting an
episode of his childhood. The poem is set in a park with trees, birds, a lake, a fountain,
rockery stones and groves. The habitual visitors are the hunchback, the children, the truant
boys and the nurses. There is the park keeper, too. The setting and the actions of the
people are very realistic. The hunchback’s actions evoke feeling of solitude and poverty
while the boys’ ones evoke happiness and carefree mood.The park represents freedom both
for the boys and the hunchback: the boys escape from houses and schools and the
hunchback feels free, “nobody chained him”.The only limitation he has is his malformation
which prevents him from enjoying life as the other people. He is the only character in the
poem not to have responsibilities: the nurses look after the children, the park keeper
opens/closes the park and has to keep it tidy. One of the truant boy was Thomas himself as
we can guess from line 10: “In the fountain basin where I sailed my ship”.
The poem describes a day in the poor life of an hunchback: he eats “bread from a
newspaper” and drinks water from the fountain using “ the chained cup”, he sleeps in a
dog-kennel. The boys play tricks to him, filling the cup with gravel, tease him
“hunchbacked in mockery” an run away when he shakes his paper. Notwithstanding their
ruthless actions, the boys are not described as wicked. In line 40 they are “innocent as
strawberries”. They play their wild games and they imagine tigers roaring on the rocky
stones. In some way they are important for the hunchback because they make him feel
alive. The only moment of joy for the hunchback is when he dreams. His recurrent dream
is a beautiful woman “ without faults/straight as a young elm”. The poem contains many
similes taken from the world of nature (“like the park birds ….. like the water …. Straight as
a young elm …. Innocent as strawberries “)and some metaphors (made the tiger jump
out…).