The Concept of Life and Death in the Poems of Dylan Thomas

Abstract

The English poet Dylan Thomas, regarded as a genius, is famous for his metaphorical imagery. His poems often discuss the three themes of life, death, and desire. In them, his views on life and death are contradictory yet mutually integrated. This paper explores the fantasy world of life and death constructed by Dylan Thomas by studying a series of symbolic images in his poems. It also aims to sort out the framework of the poet’s general view of life and death by combining the social background of the time and the poet’s religious background. The poet acknowledges the objective existence of death but does not merely produce fear. He believes that death cannot end everything. From a religious perspective, he believes that death must be followed by new life, which reduces the prestige of death to a certain extent. The poet even despises death. The opposition between life and death and the cycle of life and death are two parallel views in Dylan Thomas’s cognitive world. On top of life and death, another greater cosmic force runs life and death — ruthless nature itself. Death is the return from organic matter to inorganic matter, from consciousness to unconsciousness. In the face of this view, death is only a necessary way back to nature.