It has been a while since I’ve done any close reading for poems and Fern Hill by Dylan Thomas wasn’t one I’d come across before. I read it thoroughly a few times to myself and then listened to both Dylan Thomas himself and actor, Richard Burton reading it on YouTube. Poetry is usually designed to be read aloud so I found listening to these very useful, it allows you to understand it more through the tone and pace of the reader.

I also printed the poem out and annotated it, focusing on the themes of time and place, as well as the poetic devices used. Breaking it down and looking at each of the 6 stanzas separately and then as a whole definitely allowed me to think deeper about what Thomas was trying to put across.

Upon reading and annotating, there are a series of questions to answer:

• What’s the mood of the poem? How does it make you feel? 

I think it’s quite wistful because there is a clear sense of longing for the past, his childhood in particular. His descriptive language ‘golden in the heydays’, ‘rivers of the windfall light’ add warmth to the poem and it definitely gives the impression that he enjoyed his childhood. This is backed up of course by the mention of being ‘happy’ and ‘carefree’. The last stanza definitely has a different mood, one of melancholy and it’s evident that Thomas switches back to the present day of his adulthood which he is clearly not as fond of as his childhood.

The poem makes me feel nostalgic and made me think about my childhood. I would certainly say that my childhood is something I look back on with fondness but I’m also optimistic about the future. Since I’m only 20 it does make me wonder if I’d have the same sense of longing for it as I get older.

• What poetic devices does Thomas use and what effect do they have on the poem?

Rhyme – the poem uses internal rhyme which means the two rhyming words occur within a line, rather than at the end of separate lines. For instance, the line ‘time let me play and be’. Thomas also uses half-rhyme (when words have the same sound but may differ in vowels or consonants), for instance, ‘trees’, ‘leaves’ and ‘streams’. This helps quicken the pace in parts of the poem which gives off the idea that it is Thomas remembering his past.

Rhythm – There is a more subtle rhythm to the poem and like I mentioned above, it conveys his train of thought and takes the readers on a journey. The 6 stanzas of 9 lines do keep the rhythm steady but the use of enjambment (when the sentence does not end at the end of the line but carries on to the next), allows the poem to be continuous and conveys a journey through his past.

Repetition – The theme of time establishes importance through repetition and it’s evident that Thomas focuses on the control it has. The word ‘happy’, as well as the colours ‘green and golden’ are also repeated and this helps to show the sense of joy he felt during his childhood.

Alliteration – This device is perhaps less obvious but is shown in the line ‘And green and golden I was huntsmen and herdsmen’. I believe the alliteration of the ‘g’ and ‘h’ creates a sing-song rhythm, adding to a more positive mood when he describes his childhood.

Assonance – Again, I wouldn’t say this device is as significant as others but an example is the ‘e’ sound in the lines ‘Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means, Time held me green and dying’. For me, I think this helps him emphasise his feelings of disappointment at the fact he has grown up and his childhood is no more.

Personification – Thomas personifies time, not by giving it physical traits as such but by giving making it a parent/guardian figure and something that has control over his life. Some examples of this are ‘Time let me hail and climb’, ‘Time let me play and be’ and ‘Time held me green and dying’.

Simile – There are a few examples of similes throughout the poem. The first occurs in the first stanza and Thomas describes himself as being ‘happy as the grass was green’. As grass is usually pretty green we can assume this means he certainly had a happy childhood. The line ‘And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white’ is another example of this device. The colour white often symbolises purity and innocence (especially in religion), a characteristic of being a child and perhaps something that Thomas misses. In the final stanza, Thomas uses a simile in a more negative way – ‘Though I sang in my chains like the sea’. To me, chains symbolise being constrained or controlled in some way, perhaps by adulthood and society.

Metaphor – One example of a metaphor is the line ‘My wishes raced through the house high hay’. Obviously, his wishes aren’t literally running but I think this suggests how he felt free and hopeful for his wishes to come true as a child. The line ‘Time held me green and dying’ demonstrates both the personification and metaphor device. Time can’t physically hold someone and we know that because he is telling the poem from his present, he wasn’t actually dying. Instead, this is a metaphor for the end of his childhood.

Imagery – Through the use of colour (green and golden), mention of animals (foxes, owls, horses, pheasants) and his descriptive language when describing the location of Fern Hill create an image for those reading. For instance, the lines ‘the spellbound horses walking warm out of the whinnying green stable on to the fields of praise’ create a sense of place and clearly Thomas enjoys being in nature. This also has religious connotations since the fields of praise resemble how The Garden of Eden is portrayed.

• How do the poetic devices help evoke the themes of time and place? Can you identify any other theme running through this poem? What is the poem saying about time and place (and any other theme you’ve identified?

As mentioned above, personification is used to give the theme of time importance. By doing this it emphasises the significance it has Thomas’ life, it’s clear that he enjoys reminiscing on the past and his childhood, in particular, a more ‘happy’ and ‘carefree’ time. The line ‘Oh I was young and easy in the mercy of his means’ potentially suggests how time had mercy on him and tried to protect him as a child, however, he knows that can’t last forever but ultimately time can’t be stopped.

Place is also very central to the entire poem and in a way, I think it provokes you to think about a ‘happy place’ because most people have somewhere they look back on with especially fond memories. For Thomas, this is Fern Hill and his descriptive language choices help to convey a sense of place for the readers. This is helped by the strong use of imagery to paint the scene of the countryside and the repetition of ‘green’ and ‘golden’. Using these devices helps the readers to visualise the location and in turn, become more familiar with it as a place.

Age and childhood is certainly a focus in this poem but I think this is better summed up as the theme of innocence and experience. It’s fair to say that in general, childhood is easier due to the innocence of the youth, they haven’t been influenced or corrupted by society and adulthood. With experience often comes the realisation that not everything is as happy and carefree as we may think as innocent children. Thomas highlights the theme of innocence throughout but the use of simile in the line ‘And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white’ has strong religious connotations since the colour white often symbolises innocence and purity. The theme of innocence and experience is also explored in other poetry, particularly William Blake who has a collection titled ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience’. I know that in these poems he too suggests that the innocent (often children) live an arguably happier life and his poems in the experience section very much condemn society and focus on corruption in various forms. The line ‘Though I sang in my chains like the sea’ in Fern Hill is another example of a simile that Thomas uses and I think this reflects the similar message to that of Blake’s experiences poems. The imagery created by the chains automatically make you think of being constrained and trapped in a violent manner. Thomas may be insinuating that in adulthood we are constrained, trapped and essentially controlled by society. Therefore I believe there is also an element of political commentary within this poem.

• What lines or images stay with you? What do they remind you of or how to they make you feel?

‘Time let play and be’ – makes me think about how time allows children to be carefree and fun but as it passes, gradually we don’t have this much freedom.

‘My wishes raced through the house’ – for me, this gives a sense of hope and captures the imagination of children.

‘childless land’ – this creates quite a melancholy image of emptiness, like the joy that the children bring has been banished.

‘in my chains’ – this phrase definitely creates an image that stays with me and is essentially a juxtaposition to the more positive and carefree image he creates in the rest of the poem.

• What’s the rhythm like? Is it choppy or is it flowing and smooth? How does the rhythm impact on the poem?

Although the structure of the poem is fairly consistent since there is 6 equal stanzas of 9 lines there isn’t a strong rhythm as such. It’s definitely more of a flowing rhythm which fits the idea that Thomas is revisiting his past and taking the readers on a journey.

• Is the ‘speaker’ important? What are his views? Are they apparent or inferred?

Yes, the speaker is definitely important since it’s the poet himself sharing his experience. He doesn’t outright say that childhood is better and happier but he definitely presents this part of his life as being much more joyful and that this diminishes in adulthood.

• Are there any lines you don’t get? Can you hazard a guess as to what they mean or allude to?

I think it’s hard to say that you definitely do or do not understand many lines in poetry since it very much depends on each individuals perspective.

The line ‘up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my hand’ isn’t necessarily obvious in what he is trying to say but it’s possible that he is referring to the afterlife since swallows are a common symbol of this. Furthermore, he goes on to say ‘fly high’ and then literally mentions ‘dying’ so overall I think he is putting across the fact that his childhood is no more, or ‘dead’ in other words.