The main theme of this poem is the connection between all of nature and life. Thomas speaks of a mysterious and unstoppable force that controls both mankind and nature, forever linking them together, as his ‘youth is bent by the same wintry fever’ as the ‘crooked rose’. It is obvious he believes that the lives of mankind and nature are not separate, but caught in the same scheme of the world. He describes this force as linking life and death in an eternal cycle; ‘of my clay is made the hangman’s lime’. Thomas suggests late in the poem the name of the force that he is talking about: ‘(the lips of) time’, yet one can guess from the beginning that this is part of the subject matter, emphasising his point that this force is powerful and central to all, and also that it can be related to by everyone. And yet although time would be the obvious solution to this otherwise unnamed power, the poem seems to talk of a force that is greater than time, perhaps a ‘life-force’, the current of life and death that f

Structurally the poem follows a certain rhythm, each stanza beginning with the word ‘the’, and the first two stanzas beginning with the same words altogether: ‘The force that drives’, which reflects the regularity of this cycle and its continuance. The poet doesn’t use rhymes, but sometimes uses words that sound similar such as the ending: ‘tomb’ and ‘worm’, to give a sense of comfort and regularity when the poem is read out. Also the organisations of ideas in the first three stanzas are very similar. The first part concerns (in the first two stanzas) comparing mankind with nature in terms of life and creation, and after the semi-colon is the mention of destruction. Then comes a short line showing how the force will cause the death of the poet. The last two lines show how the poet is unable to articulate the wonders of the power. This emphasises the incessancy and consistency of the power being described. It follows the same pattern. Word order is sometimes emphatic. ‘The force’ starting a line makes it clear that that is the major theme of the poem, and the second line of many of the stanzas begin with a verb that emphasises power. Hyperbatic word order is sometimes used; in ‘How at the mountain spring the same mouth sucks’, the mouth sucking is definitely the message the poem wants to get across, and therefore it is left until the end of the line so that the reader can be left with that thought. Often a verb is used to start the line, such as ‘drives’ and ‘stirs’, to reinforce the importance of the actions the themed force performs.

He also is fond of using oxymorons, which make the phrases extremely open for interpretation and conveys a sense of the poet’s own confusion. An example of this is ‘wintry fever’, as a fever would be hot and a winter cold. Another is ‘green age’, as ‘green’ is concerned with spring and new life, and ‘age’ is often concerned with oldness. His love of contrast is not limited at this. Throughout the poem positive imagery is juxtaposed with negative imagery such as ‘green’ being so near to ‘blasts’, in order to suggest the full potency of the force he is writing about, as well as ‘youth’ being on the same line as ‘wintry fever’, perhaps reflecting how close in reality old age is to youth.

The use of imagery and contrast in language are what makes Thomas’s poem stand out above all in my opinion. Thomas uses many colours in terms of imagery, which adds depth and meaning to the poem, as colours can symbolise numerous things. The anaphora of ‘green’ stresses life and youth, and also the fact that the same word is used to describe the age of a human and the life of a flower emphasises the link the poet feels there to be between them. However in the first line ‘green’ is used in a literal sense as well, as it refers to the stem, whereas ‘green age’ is completely metaphorical of vivacity. The use of ‘red blood’ also adds to this, as red is a very healthy and lively colour. His imagery is often extremely interesting and original. The ‘shroud sail’ reminds the reader of perhaps a Viking funeral, which draws many connections with the sea and the wind.

Some topics in this essay:
Dylan Thomas, , ‘green age’, ‘crooked rose’, love death, subject matter, mankind nature, life death, ‘wintry fever’, ‘the lips time’, reminds reader, connection nature, eternal cycle,