The Paradoxical Thomas
Dylan Thomas' outer life has little to do with his poetry, only occasionally having been inspired by some life-altering event. However, Thomas does contain some inner aspect of himself in each of his poems. Thomas states, "I hold a beast, an angel, and a madman in me, and my inquiry is as to their working, and my problem is their subjugation and victory, down throw and upheaval, and my effort is their self-expression." By drawing on characteristics of himself, a wealth of literary knowledge and unarguable language control, Thomas is able to not only be an exceptional writer, but also entertain readers at the same time. With the use of diction, imagery, and rhyme Thomas is able to effectively convey his main themes of death, religious clash, and human nature.Welsh born Dylan Marlais Thomas was acutely gifted in English and Reading from an early age, pleasing his father, a Senior English master at Thomas' grammar school. He neglected his other subjects however, and had little ambition to continue his education in a university. Impressively, three years after leaving school, Thomas' first collection of poems, 18 Poems, was published and Thomas became an instant success. When looking upon these earl
In this poem, Thomas uses obscure references to religion rather than obvious allusions, most likely because the work was inspired by the slow death of his father, an explicit agnostic. The repeating refrain of "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" reminds readers of the biblical phrase "In the beginning there was the word...let there be light". He also alludes, whether purposely or not, to the "wise men" in line 4. Further on he speaks of those "who see the blinding sight" (line 13) which serves to represent heaven. Finally in line 17 he makes the most obvious allusion in the poem "Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray." In four of the five tercets, Thomas tells short stories of human nature, when he explains how men from different walks of life embrace death. Beginning in the second tercet Thomas tells of "wise men", presumably philosophers, who "know dark is right" because they know what to look for at the end of life. In spite of their wisdom, however, they "do not go gentle" because their words "had forked no lightning." This is Thomas' way of saying that the "wise men" were not wise enough, because their words created no ultimate linguistic reality. Continuing on to the third and fourth tercets, Thomas describes the "good men" and "wild men" as men who have allowed life to pass them by. They are similar to the grasshopper in the fable of the "Grasshopper and the Ants", who played while the ants gathered food for the winter. When winter came, the grasshopper died of starvation because he misused his time. In the final tercet, the story of the "grave men" is told. Thomas describes these "grave men" as blind, however they have the ultimate vision. This implies the blindness of Thomas' father but also the archetypal blindness of ancient poet-priests as well as the blindness of other poets, such as Milton or Joyce. The "grave men" are concerned with life essentially. City and County of Swansea. http://www.dylanthomas.org Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1453
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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