Brief Questions in Dylan Thomas’ Poems

Answer

Brief Questions in Dylan Thomas’ Poems 

• What was Dylan’s second name?

Ans: His second name was Marlais, meaning “voice of the sea.”

• What is the source of “The Force that through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower”?

Ans: It was reworked from his early Swansea Notebooks started at age 15.

• What is the theme of that poem?

Ans: The same vital force works in both man and nature.

• What is “crooked rose”?

Ans: A reference to Blake’s The Sick Rose, symbolizing corruption or decay.

• What does “quicksand” symbolize?

Ans: Destruction and engulfing power in nature.

1. What does the “fountain-head” symbolize?

Ans: The womb or life’s source from which time drains vitality.

• What is “Weather’s Wind”?

Ans: The wind of time, symbolizing life’s passing.

• What truth is the poet unable to reveal under the tomb?

Ans: That the worm devouring his corpse will crawl over his lover’s body.

• What are “spittled eyes”?

Ans: Eyes moistened with saliva to fake tears of grief.

• How is the boy Dylan shaken by his aunt’s death?

Ans: He is so grief-stricken that he feels suicidal.

• What is the poet’s fancy in building a memorial for his aunt?

Ans: He imagines himself alone in her room, creating a poetic memorial.

• How does Thomas estimate his aunt?

Ans: Ann Jones embodies love and generosity, like a spring of water.

• What is “Brown Chapel”?

Ans: The chapel where Ann Jones prayed, a holy place like nature’s woods.

• How is Thomas consoled by her statue?

Ans: Her marble image recalls her virtues and gives him hope of her return.

• What made Dylan Thomas a poet?

Ans: His love for his aunt, her death, and writing her elegy awakened his poetic power.

• What kind of poem is “A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London”?

Ans: A war elegy for a child killed in an air raid.

• Why is the poet unwilling to mourn the child’s death?

Ans: Conventional mourning would cheapen the dignity of her death.

• What is “Zion”?

Ans: The sacred Jewish hill in Jerusalem, symbol of holiness.

• Where does the child lie now?

Ans: With Adam and Eve on the earth, under the Thames flowing to the sea.

• What is the poet’s idea of death there?

Ans: Death is not an end but a renewal of eternal life.

• What is the theme of “In My Craft or Sullen Art”?

Ans: The poet’s dedication to his art and its purpose.

• When does Thomas exercise his poetic art?

Ans: At night, under the moon, while lovers sleep.

• In what sense is his art “sullen”?

Ans: It brings no reward, praise, or recognition.

• What is the meaning of “green age”?

Ans: Youth or boyhood.

• What does “The Force” signify?

Ans: The universal life-energy driving nature and mankind alike.

1. In whose honour does Thomas write his verses?

Ans: For lovers who embody both passion and human sorrow.

• What does “spindrift pages” mean?

Ans: His brief, fleeting poems—like sea spray blown away.

• What does “green fuse” mean?

Ans: The vital, explosive life-energy in all living things.

• What kind of poem is “After the Funeral”?

Ans: An elegy for his aunt, Ann Jones.

• What are “mule praises”?

Ans: The false, mechanical mourning of hypocritical people.

• What are “stuffed fox and stale fern”?

Ans: Decorative objects in Aunt Jones’s room symbolizing lifelessness.

• What does “green age” mean?

Ans: Youthful, fresh period of life.

• What does “wintry fever” mean in “The Force That through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower”?

Ans: The same natural force that brings life also causes decay and death.