Poems in October
Shakespeare, Keats and Dylan Thomas wrote, in Sonnet 73, To Autumn and Poem in October respectively, not about a season but about death. When poets write about one thing, they … Continue reading
Singing in chains
‘In spite of the danger of becoming the centre of a cult, Mr. Thomas has developed in his own way, exploring with vigour and originality his elemental, almost racial, emotions … Continue reading
On the origin of Dylan Thomas
I awoke in the midsummer not to call night, in the white and walk of the morning. Dylan Thomas has such a distinctive voice that we assume he was born … Continue reading
Fern Hill
‘Fern Hill’ is a kind of tone poem, a musical form reclaimed for literature by Dylan Thomas. In six stanzas, he evokes the innocence and wonder of childhood and sets … Continue reading
Two poems
Wordsworth’s Tintern Abbey, or to give it its full title, Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey, on revisiting the banks of the Wye during a tour, July 13, … Continue reading
A Reader’s Diary, 20 November 2013
Chris Campbell has done a better job of translating Molière’s Tartuffe than I did when, a long time ago, it was one of my set books for A level French. … Continue reading
The first modern English poem
THE LOVER SHEWETH HOW HE IS FORSAKEN OF SUCH AS HE SOMTIME ENJOYED This poem by Sir Thomas Wyatt, written a few years before his death in 1542, is the … Continue reading
The slow reader
Like everything else that gives pleasure, reading is best done slowly. Eat slowly, walk slowly, make love slowly, read slowly. Everyone reads slowly to begin with. When you’re learning, you … Continue reading
