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READ THIS
It's the poet's 30th birthday. It's autumn in Wales. He takes a walk in the early morning, climbing high
onto a hill overlooking his beautiful Welsh village. He looks down with great joy onto the brightly coloured
autumn world, listening to the sounds of the birds and remembering a similar walk he did while he was
still a young boy.
ABOUT THE POET
Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea (Wales) in October 1914. His father was a schoolmaster, his mother
a seamstress.
The poet spent much of his youth in Swansea where he often visited his aunt's dairy farm. It was these
visits which inspired much of his poetry. "Poem in October" records memories of those happy days.
Thomas was always a sickly child who tended to keep to himself. He was educated initially at a private
school which he referred to as Mrs. Hole's "Dame School". Later he would attend the Swansea Grammar
School where he published his first poem in the school's magazine.
He loved literature but ignored most of his other subjects, eventually dropping out of school at the age of
16, thereupon becoming a reporter for a local newspaper. Later he would continue to work as a freelance
journalist.
Most of his poems and short stories were written at his home at Cwmdonkin in Wales.
When World War II erupted, Thomas was essentially not fit to fight. Instead he worked for the Ministry
of Information, producing propaganda movies. It was during this time, however, that he began to drink
heavily.
He would later become famous for his poetry readings where his Welsh accent captivated audiences.
He was particularly involved with the BBC and is now most remembered for his play-for-voices called
Under Milk Wood. Most of his poetry was similarly renowned for its play on sounds and words, and
for its quaint imagery and word order.
Thomas married a dancer, Caitlin MacNamara, and maintained a stormy relationship where rumours of
affairs on both sides were rife. They would have three children. He would die in New York in 1953 from
an overindulgence in alcohol . He was then just 39 years of age.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
"A springful of larks in a rolling
Cloud and the roadside bushes brimming with whistling
Blackbirds and the sun of October
Summery
On the hill's shoulder."
- Comment on the contradictions in these lines. (4)
[Need help?]
It's autumn, right? But a "springful" of larks? And the sun is "summery"? Three seasons rolled into one.
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- Explain how the poet has made the description of the day such a glorious one. (4)
[Need help?]
It's autumn and it's showery. Nevertheless, the poet describes a happy day. The larks are singing,
making it sound like it's spring. They are also frolicking in the sky "in a rolling cloud". The bushes are
alive with singing birds. And the sun keeps breaking through the clouds, creating a warm day as if in
summer.
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"Pale rain over the dwindling harbour
And over the sea wet church the size of a snail
With its horns through mist and the castle
Brown as owls."
- What words tell us that the poet appears to be climbing a hill? (4)
[Need help?]
The harbour is "dwindling", getting smaller as the poet appears to be getting higher. The church has
shrunk to the size of a snail. The castle is now so far away that all its colours have merged into brown.
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- Explain the images found in "the sea wet church the size of a snail with its horns through the
mist". (4)
[Need help?]
There are several images here. Aren't there always several images in Dylan Thomas's poetry?
First, "the sea wet church". Is the church next to the sea but wet from the mist and rain - in other words,
using again a transferred epithet? Or is the church wet because it is next to the sea and so it gets sprayed
from the waves? The poet doesn't say but leaves it to the reader to enjoy the lyrical ambiguity.
The church is being seen from the distance of a hill. The mist is partially obscuring it. It is small and
appears now as a snail, the church's two towers looking like the snail's two "horns" or feelers. This, of
course, is a metaphor because the poet says that the church IS the size of a snail. But it also glistens with
moisture just as a snail would do.
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- What figure of speech is used in "the castle brown as owls"? (2)
[Need help?]
Of course, this is a simile, isn't it? That's an easy one. A simile is when something is compared to
something else using "as", "like" or "than" as part of the comparison.
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"But all the gardens
Of spring and summer were blooming in the tall tales
Beyond the border and under the lark full cloud."
- Comment on the image of the "gardens of spring and summer" blooming in "tall
tales". (4)
[Need help?]
"Tall tales" are usually fairy tales or make-believe stories. But fairy tales are wonderful, allowing us to lose
ourselves in the creative wonders of the mind, in make-believe. This is probably what the poet is
attempting to put across: the beauty of the make-believe stories.
There is no doubt that the poet is also using the word "tall" in different ways. He always does. Not only
are the "tales" tall (fairy tales) but the gardens themselves are tall with trees.
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- Why would the cloud be a "lark full cloud"? (4)
[Need help?]
Larks are nondescript birds but are known for their beautiful singing. The poet could therefore be
describing the fact that there are so many larks in the sky that they appear like a cloud, or that the cloud
itself is beautiful and would appear to be full of birdsong. Either way, the poet is describing a truly beautiful
day.
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"And the twice told fields of infancy
That his tears burned my cheeks and his heart moved in mine.
These were the woods the river and sea
Where a boy
In the listening
Summertime of the dead whispered the truth of his joy
To the trees and the stones and the fish in the tide.
And the mystery
Sang alive
Still in the water and singingbirds."
- What is this reference to "his" and "a boy"? (4)
[Need help?]
It would seem that the poet is reliving a trip he had done when he was a boy. There is a severe dose of
nostalgia here, isn't there? The boy's tears of joy are now the tears of joy on his adult cheeks as he
relives a very memorable event in the past.
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- What is the "summertime of the dead"? (4)
[Need help?]
The "summertime of the dead" again reflects the multitude of thoughts going through the poet's mind. The
"dead" could simply refer to the past. The past has gone, is dead, and yet it lives on through our
memories. What else could it be?
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"Though the town below lay leaved with October blood."
- Why would the town below be "leaved with October blood"? (2)
[Need help?]
It's autumn and the leaves of the trees in Wales have turned to gold and red. Soon they will fall to the
ground in readiness for winter. This, of course, is why the Americans and Canadians call this season "the
Fall", i.e. the time of year when the leaves fall to the ground.
The trees in the town below, however, are predominantly of a species which produces red leaves, blood
red making it look from a distance like Nature's blood, October blood or autumn blood.
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