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Dylan Thomas - Poem In October

It was my thirtieth year to heaven
Woke to my hearing from harbour and neighbour wood
     And the mussel pooled and the heron
               Priested shore
          The morning beckon
With water praying and call of seagull and rook
And the knock of sailing boats on the net webbed wall
          Myself to set foot
               That second
     In the still sleeping town and set forth.

     My birthday began with the water-
Birds and the birds of the winged trees flying my name
     Above the farms and the white horses
               And I rose
          In rainy autumn
And walked abroad in a shower of all my days.
High tide and the heron dived when I took the road
          Over the border
               And the gates
     Of the town closed as the town awoke.

     A springful of larks in a rolling
Cloud and the roadside bushes brimming with whistling
     Blackbirds and the sun of October
               Summery
          On the hill's shoulder,
Here were fond climates and sweet singers suddenly
Come in the morning where I wandered and listened
          To the rain wringing
               Wind blow cold
     In the wood faraway under me.

     Pale rain over the dwindling harbour
And over the sea wet church the size of a snail
     With its horns through mist and the castle
               Brown as owls
          But all the gardens
Of spring and summer were blooming in the tall tales
Beyond the border and under the lark full cloud.
          There could I marvel
               My birthday
     Away but the weather turned around.

     It turned away from the blithe country
And down the other air and the blue altered sky
     Streamed again a wonder of summer
               With apples
          Pears and red currants
And I saw in the turning so clearly a child's
Forgotten mornings when he walked with his mother
          Through the parables
               Of sun light
     And the legends of the green chapels

     And the twice told fields of infancy
That his tears burned my cheeks and his heart moved in mine.
     These were the woods the river and sea
               Where a boy
          In the listening
Summertime of the dead whispered the truth of his joy
To the trees and the stones and the fish in the tide.
          And the mystery
               Sang alive
     Still in the water and singingbirds.

     And there could I marvel my birthday
Away but the weather turned around. And the true
     Joy of the long dead child sang burning
               In the sun.
          It was my thirtieth
Year to heaven stood there then in the summer noon
Though the town below lay leaved with October blood.
          O may my heart's truth
               Still be sung
     On this high hill in a year's turning.

Added: on March 7th, 2006 at 4:39 PM | Viewed: 10409 times | Comments (13)


Poem In October - Comments and Information

Poet: Dylan Thomas
Poem: Poem In October

Poem of the Day on:
Apr 19 2007

Comment 13 of 13, added on April 22nd, 2006 at 3:38 AM.

this poem is sooooo boring.... ok i really dont know if the poem is about a man who is dead and looking back or if he is talking on his 30th b'day! dylan has just made this poem soooo..... confusing and boooring!!

Ricky from Sri Lanka
Comment 12 of 13, added on March 11th, 2006 at 4:20 AM.

“Poem In October" by Dylan Thomas is a poem written on his thirtieth birthday. He expresses his joy at being alive and at being almost one with Nature, which he reveres to the point of worship. [Note the use of religious verbs and nouns some of them created through poetic license such as "priested", "praying", "parables" and "chapels".] He also seems to shun humanity and human companionship and instead actively seeks out nature. For instance, he leaves the town asleep and ventures out into the countryside.

Note also how cleverly he incorporates all of the four seasons into this poem. He mentions spring in "springful of larks", summer in "the sun of October/ Summery/ On the hill's shoulder" as well as in "the listening/Summertime of the dead" and " It was my thirtieth/Year to heaven stood there then in the summer noon". Autumn appears in "the town below lay leaved with October blood" and also in "I rose/ In rainy autumn/ And walked abroad in a shower of all my days". Winter also gets a mention in "the rain wringing/ Wind blow cold/ In the wood faraway under me". The four seasons are of course symbolic and represent different stages in life. Thomas considers that he is in the summer of his life on this his thirtieth birthday and this is expressed as the peak of existence; filled with joy and peace and still highlighted by the exuberance of youth which would of course be spring. Although his birthday happens to fall in reality in autumn; in his heart and mind and soul he basks in "the summer sun" while winter [old age/death] is "the rain wringing... faraway".

Dylan Thomas love of Nature is reflected at two levels in this poem. First and primary is the immediate setting of the poem. He wakes to the sounds of nature, he walks through the sights of nature and this prompts him to the second level, which comprises of a flashback to his childhood where he was also in communion with nature. He reflects that on this day and with this powerful connection to nature he can recall and feel with accuracy the emotions of his youth: "That his tears burned my cheeks and his heart moved in mine".


Christine from Kenya
Comment 11 of 13, added on March 7th, 2006 at 4:39 PM.

this poem, beautifully written but it is sad he is looking back on his life from death not fixing his life while living...

Jeilisa from United States

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