Treatment of Time as both the Creator and Destroyer of Life

Answer

Evaluate the treatment of time as both the creator and destroyer of life shown in the poem “The Force that through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower.”

Dylan Thomas’s (1914-1953) poem “The Force that through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower” (1934) is about the power of time and nature. Thomas shows how the same force that creates life also destroys it. This force runs through flowers, trees, rivers, wind, and human beings. Time appears as both a giver of energy and a taker of youth. In this way, the poem becomes a meditation on creation, growth, decay, and death.

The Force of Creation: The poem begins by showing the strong life-force in nature. The poet says,

“The force that through the green fuse drives the flower.”

This means that an unseen energy pushes the flower to bloom. The same energy also flows through the poet’s youth. This force is time. Time seems to act like a creator here. It gives vitality to all living things.

The Force of Destruction: But at the same time, this life-giving force also destroys. The poet says that the same power which drives flowers also “blasts the roots of trees”. The flowers grow, but they also wither. The trees stand tall, but their roots will one day decay. Similarly, the poet’s youth will also bend and break. The poet says, this force is also his destroyer.

“The force that…

Drives my green age…

Is my destroyer.”

This is the paradox of time: what it creates, it also ruins. In this way, time acts as both a friend and an enemy.

Time in Human Blood and Body: The poet compares the flowing of water with the flowing of blood in his veins. The force that drives water through rocks also “drives my red blood”. But the same force dries streams and turns blood to wax, meaning death. Here, Thomas shows how time makes