After the Funeral : Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

1. Quote: “After the funeral, mule praises, brays”
   Speaker: The Poet (Dylan Thomas)
   Stanza: 1
   Explanation: The poem opens with an image of a mule braying after the funeral. It creates a strange, almost ironic contrast between the noise of the animal and the silence of death. Thomas uses this image to show how life continues even in moments of grief.
2. Quote: “I stand, for this memorial’s sake, alone”
   Speaker: The Poet
   Stanza: 1
   Explanation: Here the poet stands alone after everyone has left the funeral. This moment of solitude expresses his deep personal sorrow and his role as a poet — the one who stays behind to turn grief into art.
3. Quote: “But I, Ann’s bard on a raised hearth, call all / The seas to service that her wood-tongued virtue / Babble like a bellbuoy over the hymning heads”
   Speaker: The Poet
   Stanza: 2
   Explanation: The poet calls himself “Ann’s bard,” meaning the one who will sing her praises. He uses the sea and bell imagery to describe how her goodness and kindness should echo endlessly, like the sound of a buoy ringing over the waves.
4. Quote: “Her flesh was meek as milk, but this skyward statue / With the wild breast and blessed and giant skull”
   Speaker: The Poet
   Stanza: 2
   Explanation: The poet remembers Ann as a gentle, humble woman (“meek as milk”), but through his poetry she becomes a grand symbolic figure — a “skyward statue.” This contrast shows how art can transform an ordinary life into something eternal.
5. Quote: “Storm me forever over her grave until / The stuffed lung of the fox twitch and cry Love”
   Speaker: The Poet
   Stanza: 2
   Explanation: The poet feels Ann’s spirit will forever move and inspire him. Even the dead or lifeless things around him — like the stuffed fox — seem to come alive with love. This line powerfully expresses how memory and art can bring life to what seems dead.