An Analysis of Language in the Poetry of Dylan Thomas

Abstract

<p>Dylan Thomas belongs to an exclusive group, the Anglo-Welsh poets, who, throughout most of English literary history, have either chosen or have been compelled to write in English rather than in Welsh, a situation which offers someone interested in language analysis an opportunity to study its several implications. Perhaps, in the not too distant future, the way in which human beings think and learn a language will be satisfactorily determined. In what language does a bi-lingual person think? Does a human being think in words or pictures? What emotive value do words possess? Is there an on-going tension between the first language and the acquired language or languages, or, as in Thomas' case, the first family language which he could not speak fluently and the alien language which became his lingua franca? To what extent do the latent influences such as personal associations, family background, interests, ancestry, ultimately affect the nature of writing? At present, in the world of critical thought on these subjects, we are still "on a darkling plain" where "ignorant armies clash by night".</p> <p>Literary critics have often dismissed Dylan Thomas' poetry, and particularly his figurative language, as excessively esoteric and complex. This study will, I hope, go some way to meet this criticism by examining in some detail the dynamics of Thomas' diction, metaphor, and symbolism, as necessary components of a style that is both original and essential to the manifestation of a truly private metaphysical vision. In this study I will attempt to identify the elements that characterize his style: in short, to establish why his poems are the way they are.</p>