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Poet: Dylan Thomas
Poem: And Death Shall Have No Dominion
Volume: 25 Poems
Year: Published/Written in 1936
Comment 44 of 44, added on January 22nd, 2008 at 11:32 PM.
I believe Thomas wrote this at a time he had lost his faith. He desperately wanted to believe in the hope of an afterlife, as shown in the first verse. However, as we move into the last stanza, the poem shows a materialistic view that, in the end, after the universe runs down, even death will no longer hold sway. It's a sad ending without hope.
Vernon from United States
Comment 43 of 44, added on July 17th, 2006 at 5:52 PM.
I would dearly love to believe that Thomas was correct, that death has no dominion, that it is a transitional event and not a terminal place.
But whilst I'd love to believe him, I don't.
Yet in spite of my disbelief the poem helps.
I have no explanation for this contradiction.
Martin D Bates from United Kingdom
Comment 42 of 44, added on July 7th, 2006 at 5:33 PM.
Thank you for this wonderful website!
Though english is not my mother tongue, I want to add some ideas to all your interesting oppinions:
Doesn't Dylan Thomas infact paint a picture of death's dominion?
Doesn't he fall from stanza to stanza deeper into this abyss of death?
Or should I say: Doesn't he discribe death more vividly in every stanza until death is like life? Or better: Until death IS life?
Isn't the last picture whith the breaking heads in the sun the strongest picture of death and life at the same time?
Susanne from Germany
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I believe Thomas wrote this at a time he had lost his faith. He desperately wanted to believe in the hope of an afterlife, as shown in the first verse. However, as we move into the last stanza, the poem shows a materialistic view that, in the end, after the universe runs down, even death will no longer hold sway. It's a sad ending without hope.
Vernon from United States