Critically appreciate the poem “Poem in October.”

Answer

Critically appreciate the poem “Poem in October.” [NU: 2017]

Dylan Thomas’s (1914-1953) “Poem in October” (written in 1944) is one of his most beautiful poems. The poem was published in his 1946 collection Deaths and Entrances. It was written on his thirtieth birthday, and in it, the poet looks back on his childhood with love and longing. The poem shows how the poet finds joy in nature, as he did as a boy. It is a celebration of nature, time, and the deep joy of innocence.

Critical Summary: The poem begins on the morning of the poet’s thirtieth birthday.  It is a rainy October morning. He wakes up early to take a walk. The town is still sleeping. As he walks, we find beautiful images from nature. He describes the “harbour and neighbour wood.” He hears the “knock of sailing boats” at the shore. A springful of larks is flying into the cloud. The blackbirds are whistling from the bushes. He also describes a hunting heron dive into the water. These images make nature alive and active, as if nature is celebrating with the poet. As he walks, the autumn rain begins to fall. He writes:

“I rose

In rainy autumn

And walked abroad in a shower of all my days.”

He imagines that the rainy autumn is showering down all his memories on him. Then the poet climbs a hill. Suddenly, the weather changes. He describes the bright sunlight of midday summer. The “sun of October” suddenly becomes “summery.” Thomas’s vivid images take the readers on the hill with him, and they also feel the bright sunlight. From that height, the faraway town looks tiny. In the bright sunlight, he sees apples, pears, and red currants. The warm summer light takes him back to his childhood summers, when he walked with his mother. He writes:

“And I saw… a child’s

Forgotten mornings when he

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