1

BRITISH POETRY AND FICTION IN THE 1930S AND 1940S

1930s – a number of new writers appeared in British literature, they continued to write also after the
Second World War

POETRY

Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)

already his first publications (his first volume was published when Thomas was 20 years old) were met
with interest and excitement
the qualities of his poetry caused critics to see him as a new, strikingly original writer
Thomas was often compared and contrasted with T.S. Eliot, the dominant English poet of the early
twentieth century: whereas Eliot’s poetry tends to be impersonal, muted, ironic, intellectual, Thomas’s is
intensely personal, emotional, passionate, dynamic
his poetry is also linked by critics to the legacy of Romanticism
Thomas was seen as a romantic bard, dedicated to his poetic vocation; also famous for his bohemian
lifestyle (turbulent private life, alcohol addiction – died prematurely of an overdose of alcohol)

critical opinion about his poetry divided; typical criticism of his poetry: obscure, incomprehensible,
pretentious
 2

biography

born in Swansea, Wales

his father taught English in a grammar school
mother: a farmer’s daughter > Thomas used to spend his holidays in the country; some of his poetry is
inspired by his memories of rural life and Welsh landscapes

Thomas started writing poetry while still at school; edited a school magazine, where he published his own
poetry and prose
left school at 16 to become a reporter

moved to London, worked for the BBC – a broadcaster; also wrote sketches, short stories, film scripts
later moved between London, Oxford and a cottage in Wales
died in New York, during his poetry reading tour
 3
poetry

collections of poetry:

18 Poems (1934)
Twenty-Five Poems (1936)
The Map of Love (1939)
Deaths and Entrances (1946) - includes “A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire,
of a Child in London”
Collected Poems, 1934-1952 (1952)

examples of Thomas’s poetry

1. from: “Fern Hill” (1946)

Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs

About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
       The night above the dingle starry,
               Time let me hail and climb
       Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
               Trail with daisies and barley
       Down the rivers of the windfall light.

All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay
Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air
And playing, lovely and watery

Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would take me
Up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my hand,
 4
And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman,

themes

a personal, autobiographical poem; “Fern Hill” - name of his aunt’s farm which he used to visit as a child

the speaker looks back nostalgically on his childhood, recreates his impression of the place – the first line
makes it clear the poem is written from a later perspective, the speaker is no longer “young and easy”

the imagery in the poem alludes to the garden of Eden: the speaker was young “under the apple boughs”,
was “prince of the apple towns” - a world of innocence, described from a child’s perspective

emphasis in the poem is on sensory impressions, the colours and sounds of the place

a celebration of the natural world – the speaker perceives the harmony of nature, coexistence of plants,
animals and the human world

Thomas effectively renders the child’s happiness, his intense delight in the place, which seemed
deceptively timeless

reference to transience: “time held me green and dying”

as a child the speaker was as yet unaware of the passage of time, was not worried about transience
(“Time let me hail and climb”); in fact, he was already controlled by time but did not know it, he was
dying already as a child, without realizing it

in the next stanzas he speaks about the loss of the place, the loss of childhood - now the speaker is mature,
conscious of transience, the prospect of ageing and dying

“time held me green and dying”: coexistence of life and death as two sides of the natural process of
constant change

Thomas makes extensive use of biblical imagery and Christian symbolism in his poetry
however, he tends to celebrate the divine aspect of nature rather than a personal God; echo of Romantic
pantheism
 5

style

a hallmark of Thomas’s poetry is his linguistic inventiveness

Thomas employs unusual imagery, which has been described as surrealist and visionary
poetry is to surprise, baffle the reader, stimulate the reader’s imagination

his imagery is typically derived from nature, the landscapes of Wales, or the Bible

violations of syntax and semantics – new word combinations, striking collocations: unusual semantic
choices, changing the grammatical function of words, e.g.

All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay
Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air
And playing, lovely and watery

use of compound words, e.g.

Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would take me
Up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my hand,

sound effects: strong rhythm, frequent alliteration, e.g.

And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman

2. From: “The Force that through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower” (1934 – his first volume)

The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees
Is my destroyer.
And I am dumb to tell the crooked rose
My youth is bent by the same wintry fever.
 6

themes

the force operates in the flower but also in the speaker’s body, affects all nature, is both creative and
destructive

the speaker perceives unity of all life, the unity of mankind and nature

the speaker acknowledges the forces of nature, the continuing process of life and death, growth and decay
(creation and destruction are part of the same natural process)
human life as a biological process

Thomas’s poetry intensely sensual, with frequent references to the body, also sexuality
little or no interest in social commentary, moral or political issues

Thomas emphasises the appeal of words themselves, sound and rhythm, the melody of verse rather than
ideas

Link to Dylan Thomas reading his poem “The Force that through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58nrmQCcLGQ

W(ystan) H(ugh) Auden (1907 – 1973)

 7

leading poet of the so-called “Auden group”, which also included

Stephen Spender (1909-1995)

Cecil Day Lewis (1904-1972)
Louis MacNeice (1907-1963)
 8

Auden, Day Lewis and Spender

represented the same generation - met as students at Oxford, first important publications in the 1930s,
later pursued individual careers; their lives devoted to literature (also as lecturers, translators, editors,
literary critics, journalists)

early years: the poets shared preoccupations with contemporary history and politics - the political and
social turmoil of the 30s, the war in Spain (Spender, Auden, McNeice visited Spain); left-wing views,
criticism of Fascism, capitalism; socialist/Marxist views (even short-lived interest in Communism –
Spender, Day Lewis) > typical preoccupations of their early poetry

interest in social and political commitment rather than technical experiment

W.H. Auden – the dominant poet of the group

life

came from a well-educated professional middle class family

 9
born in York, educated at Oxford
1937 went to Spain as medical assistant, to fight against fascism
met Spanish Communists, became disillusioned with the Left
1939 emigrated to the US, became an American citizen 1946, university teacher at a number of American
colleges
later moved to Italy, Austria, finally taking up residence in Oxford

poetry

volume “Poems” (1930) established his reputation as a leading poet of the young generation

his poetry in the 1930s and 40s was strongly political:

critical of the establishment, committed to left-wing causes, concerned with diagnosing the condition of
the country

continued to publish until his death in 1973, regarded as an important voice also in post-war poetry (over
twenty collections of poetry, also essays, plays)

several stages in his poetry; evolution of his interests:

his poetry of the 1930s 40s is addressed to a wider audience
Auden voices his political and social ideas, believing that poetry can make a change
interest in politics, social issues, Marxism, Freudianism, anthropology
volume Another Time (1940) – includes “The Unknown Citizen”

volume The Sea and the Mirror: A Commentary on Shakespeare's The Tempest (1944) – a meditation on
art and the role of the artist, in the form of dramatic monologues

The Age of Anxiety (1947) – another important volume: a long poem with four characters; a description of
the modern, postwar world as unstable and chaotic; alienation and loneliness of individuals; Auden
imitates Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse

his later poetry becomes more personal, introspective, meditative

Auden conveys his views in a less direct manner
expresses moral preoccupations; affirms traditional values, personal responsibility, love and friendship
 10
increasing commitment to Christianity, religious overtones in his poetry

poetry written in a great variety of styles and poetic traditions:

odes, sonnets, haiku, dramatic monologues, witty and ironic aphorisms, Anglo-Saxon alliterative verse
etc.
frequent use of colloquial, conversational language

FICTION

social and political context: economic crisis, rise of Fascism and Communist, political tension, in 1936
the Spanish Civil War broke out, expectations of another world war

in the novel the realistic mode predominates, less interest in experiment

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)

author of numerous novels, essays
 11

dominant theme in his early fiction: the nature of modern life, contemporary ideologies

Point Counter Point (1928)

a novel of ideas - his characters are usually artists, intellectuals, represent a variety of attitudes > the
novel revolves around debates, intellectual conflicts and confrontations
overall image: a world of moral chaos, competing ideologies, a sense of moral and intellectual crisis

best known for his dystopian novel Brave New World (1932)

title: ironic quotation from The Tempest: “O brave new world, that hath such people in it!” (originally
spoken naively and innocently by Miranda)

set in the future, 7th C AF = after Ford

a satire on a world dominated by machine, relentless rationality, science and technology; test-tube babies,
genetic engineering, omnipresent social control
 12
people are conditioned to occupy a designated place and perform a certain function in society
manual workers and intellectuals (Alphas) are brought up in different environments, everyone is
conditioned to accept his or her social position

Graham Greene (1904-1991)

journalist, travel writer, literature and film critic, author of short stories, known mainly as a novelist
(author of about 25 novels)

after graduating from Oxford turned to journalism

travelled widely throughout his life, mainly to Latin America, also to Malaya, Africa, Vietnam in times of
political or military crisis
worked as a reporter

during WWII was in Sierra Leone, employed by British Intelligence

his experiences resulted in documentary travel books but also inspired his novels
references to current political and historical events in his fiction

The Quiet American (set in Vietnam, background: the Cold War)

Our Man in Havana (Cuba during the Cold War)
 13
The End of the Affair (9151) – London during the Blitz, WWII
The Heart of the Matter (1948), about a British officer in Sierra Leone during WWII

in 1938 went to Mexico, witnessed the political repressions and persecution of the Catholic Church;
this experience led to two publications:

The Lawless Roads (1939) – a documentary narrative

The Power and the Glory (1940) – a novel

critical opinion on Greene is divided:

 a popular writer, an entertainer, appealing to the general public
nearly all his plots include elements of political intrigue, sensation, crime, pursuit
 a serious writer, who for several decades addressed fundamental moral, existential and
psychological problems in his fiction

an important event in his life was his conversion to Catholicism

however, his Catholicism was quite unorthodox

novels with Catholic themes

Brighton Rock (1938)

The Power and the Glory (1940)
The Heart of the Matter (1948)
The End of the Affair (1951)

Greene is preoccupied with the mysteries and paradoxes of faith

likes to explore situations (often untypical, extreme) which reveal a conflict between the rigidity of the
Church’s doctrine and the complications of individual situations

contrasts secular and religious perspectives

creates characters who live in a state of doubt, uncertainty

or who embody some paradox, e.g. a holy atheist, a sinful saint

Greene’s fiction is realistic but influenced by the writer’s bleak vision of the world
 14
critics coined the term “Greeneland” to describe the world of his novels:
a physical and spiritual wasteland, ugly, depressing, full of evil and corruption

also, the title of his first important novel is quite telling: It’s a Battlefield : chaos, violence, poverty;
often, the protagonist is isolated, trapped, is on the run

Greene’s style

old-fashioned, traditional narratives, well-constructed, very eventful plots

almost always 3rd-person omniscient narratives
ignores the modernist experiment

a new element: Greene adopted certain cinematic techniques: his plots are eventful, sensational, dynamic
quick action, frequent changes of setting, scenes cut and juxtaposed
characters often portrayed while they are moving
narrative often has a documentary quality, objective descriptions of settings, vivid visual detail

many of his novels have been filmed

 15

adaptation of Brighton Rock

QUESTIONS

Dylan Thomas’s poetry: themes, features of his style

W.H. Auden’s poetry: themes, features of his style
 16
You should also be familiar with the names of Aldous Huxley and Graham Greene (period in literary
history, main achievements).

FURTHER INFORMATION (OPTIONAL)

link to BBC Radio Four programme – discussion about W.H. Auden and his poetry of the 1930s
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000cc0r