Dylan Thomas Poems of 1933 Essay -- Dylan Thomas Poets Poetry Languag

Dylan Thomas' Poems of 1933 Show how, in his poems of 1933, Dylan Thomas uses language and poetic form to explore both his own metaphysical viewpoint and his position as a poet in relation to the rest of society. In this essay I will look at how Dylan Thomas uses language and poetic form to explore his own metaphysical viewpoint and his position as a poet in relation to the rest of society. I will begin by looking at and analysing the poems that explore DT’s metaphysical ideas. In this part of my analysis I will be analysing relevant parts of the following poems; ‘The force that through the green fuse’, ‘And death shall have no dominion’ and ‘Why east wind chills’. ==================================================================== From reading the first poem ‘The force that through the green fuse’ I see the image of life being the ‘force’ and living things are the ‘fuses’. I think that what DT is trying to say is that life is a continual cycle and never stops, it is only the physical elements which the ‘force’ must possess to become life that are the restriction to the flowing and continual cycle. I think the key lexis here is ‘fuse’; the word fuse has many different connotations within the context of this poem (also note that the fuse is green – a further connection with nature and natural things). One such meaning that could be derived from it is that of a fuse used in an electrical socket. This kind of fuse breaks if there is too much current flowing through at once. On the other hand the word fuse can also means to join together, to combine. So, the force that combines human kind and nature as one is at the same time the force that divides us and prevents us from understanding why we exist.... ... nature in order to create bead and wine for Holy Communion. This is show in line 10 ‘Man broke the sun, pulled the wind down’ the word ‘sun’ could also be a pun for son – Jesus. In the last stanza the reader is addressed directly ‘you’, bringing them into the poem and allowing them to see what damage man is causing. He reminds them that he too is a part of nature, which seems to suggest that his destruction is an inevitable part of his purpose on earth. Overall I feel that these poems give a representation of DT’s position as a poet in relation to the rest of society. I feel that he is trying to say that, as a poet, he is isolated from the rest of civilisation and that it is his job to help readers see the falseness of society and persuade them to not change it, but realise the illusion and appreciate the wonders of nature and all natural things.