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Comment 51 of 51, added on May 27th, 2009 at 10:50 AM.
To Whom It May Concern :
Once and for all - " dead mean naked " should read " dead men naked" If anyone has any doubts about this listen to any D.T. video where the man recites the same.
M.J. Finner from Canada
Comment 50 of 51, added on May 12th, 2009 at 12:23 PM.
In response to some of the other comments, where the poem says "heads of the characters hammer through daisies", isn't he referring to the letters of the person's name on the gravestone forcing themselves into the light? It doesn't refer to the heads of the dead people. If it did, then the use of the word "characters" is inapropriate, we use this word for fictional people, not each other.
Andrew from United Kingdom
Comment 49 of 51, added on February 13th, 2009 at 3:56 PM.
It's ironic, friends... but positive. He's quoting Romans 6:9 loosely in the first line, then deliberately undermining it throughout. Thomas was an agnostic; more of a 'spiritual materialist' -- believing, like Blake, in a kind of Eternal energy or divine oneness -- than an atheist. The original biblical line referred to Christ's resurrection, which Thomas slightly mocks with lines referring to the torture chambers of the Catholic Inquisition and the almost comical image of heads hammering up through daisies when the supposed Revelation comes. His images are meant to show the absolute finality of death, yet, in their horror, to set the tone for the underlying peaceful notion that the eternal oneness our spirits rejoin at the end of their journey is far more vital (in its literal sense) than earthly life. This transcendental/pantheistic approach is consistent with his trademark neo-romantic leanings and is perhaps hinted at by deliberately jumbling Shelly's 'west wind' with the fairytale 'man in the moon' early on. There is a foreboding sense in that line that he will be mocking all myths that attempt to explain metaphysics in trite, easily grasped stories and images, putting them on the same level as the fairytales (man in moon) we tell children.
Scott Withers from Canada
Comment 48 of 51, added on January 13th, 2009 at 1:42 AM.
I always thought that, "dead mean naked" was an error until i noticed the missing comma's.
" Dead mean naked they shall be one "
Thomas makes dead,mean,and naked one thought by not seperating each word.I love It!
David from Canada
Comment 47 of 51, added on December 7th, 2008 at 8:14 PM.
No one noticed "dead mean naked" instead of "dead men naked"?
Maybe someone could proofread and correct it?
MARK ALLEN JONES from United States
Comment 46 of 51, added on October 17th, 2008 at 3:54 AM.
My english teacher has made us study and analysis tons of poems and Thomas is definately one of the more difficult poets. I love this poem because it is reassuring that even if there is no God (unfortunately my faith is not as strong as some) we will continue to live on in matter and energy everywhere. Not only that, but all the most important figures in history are still a part of us, along with the rest of nature.
A lot of people focus on the line "Though lovers be lost love shall not". I do find this to be a very important line. Because of the missing comma, the line can be read in more than one way. Even so, the line still has the same meaning in the different ways it can be read.
The chiasmus and antithesis in the poem makes it seem that we focus too much on only one view of the world. Things are not usually as we see them.
Everything in the poem is blended together just as everything in the world is blended together. The line "With the man in the wind and the west moon" is simply a mix up of the man in the moon and the west wind. They are transposed to be made into one thing.
I could go on and on about different aspects of this poem but these are just a few of my opinions on the meaning.
Julia from United States
Comment 45 of 51, added on June 11th, 2008 at 5:36 AM.
In response to the comments that Thomas is professing views rooted in the Christian faith, considering his well documented agnoticism: In utlilising overt chrisitan allusion and the hywl (welsh sermon-like delivery) is he not merely using the familiar (themes of death, immortality and time) to present the unfamiliar (Thomas's unique interpretation of said themes)?
I think Thomas would be disappointed to see his work interpreted in an overtly Christian light.
sandy from Australia
Comment 44 of 51, 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 51, 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 51, 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
This poem has been commented on more than 10 times. Click below to see the other comments.
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To Whom It May Concern :
Once and for all - " dead mean naked " should read " dead men naked" If anyone has any doubts about this listen to any D.T. video where the man recites the same.
M.J. Finner from Canada