Fern Hill and Other Poems
by Dylan Thomas
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The classic poem about childhood. Beautifully illustrated.8 yrs+Tags
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A scholar of poetry I am not, nor would a child be, but this is what is required to fully benefit from this dense book of words and imagery. Evocative though the poem may be, to present this poem in picture book form, as a story fit for children, is a stretch. Even the small typeface asks too much of the reader, it makes it clear that the poem's role is purely as a springboard to the illustrations.The art is undeniably arresting. Museum quality paintings rendered in a contrast of rich and ghostly hues adorn each page. Some evoke masters such as Picasso or Van Gogh, others take on a striking expressionist viewpoint. Whether the art would help a child understand the intricacies of the poem is questionable. show more Disjointed images such as the sleeping boy floating in the river may be more disturbing than enlightening. The horse motif emphasized in the art is both intriguing and baffling. Overall one has to question what a child would find of interest in a poem that reminisces about childhood. Such a nostalgic point of view is at odds with childhood itself. This book would be more suited for the coffee tables of literature majors than of the elementary age child for whom it was intended. show less
A scholar of poetry I am not, nor would a child be, but this is what is required to fully benefit from this dense book of words and imagery. Evocative though the poem may be, to present this poem in picture book form, as a story fit for children, is a stretch. Even the small typeface asks too much of the reader, it makes it clear that the poem's role is purely as a springboard to the illustrations.The art is undeniably arresting. Museum quality paintings rendered in a contrast of rich and ghostly hues adorn each page. Some evoke masters such as Picasso or Van Gogh, others take on a striking expressionist viewpoint. Whether the art would help a child understand the intricacies of the poem is questionable. show more Disjointed images such as the sleeping boy floating in the river may be more disturbing than enlightening. The horse motif emphasized in the art is both intriguing and baffling. Overall one has to question what a child would find of interest in a poem that reminisces about childhood. Such a nostalgic point of view is at odds with childhood itself. This book would be more suited for the coffee tables of literature majors than of the elementary age child for whom it was intended. show less
The Phoenix abridged edition of The Collected Poems by Dylan Thomas is a pocket sized paperback similar to the Penguin 60s in size; and containing thirty-three of his finest and best known works sold in newsagents for around the same price as a hamburger, but infinitely more satisfying.
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274+ Works 15,818 Members
The most important Welsh poet of the twentieth century, Thomas was born in Swansea, about which he remembered unkindly "the smug darkness of a provincial town." He attended Swansea Grammar School but received his real education in the extensive library of his father, a disappointed schoolteacher with higher ambitions. Refusing university study in show more favor of immediately becoming a professional writer, Thomas worked first in Swansea and then in London at a variety of literary jobs, which included journalism and, eventually, filmscripts and radio plays. In 1936 he began the satisfying but stormy marriage to the bohemian writer and dancer Caitlin MacNamara that would endure for the rest of his career. His life fell into a pattern of oscillation between work and dissipation in London and recovery and relaxation in a rural retreat, usually in Wales. Thomas worked in a documentary film unit during the war. Besides his poetry, he wrote plays and fiction. In the early 1950s, he gave three celebrated poetry-reading tours of the United States, during which his outrageous behavior vied with his superb reading ability for public attention. Aggravated by chronic alcoholism, his health collapsed during the last tour, and he died in a New York City hospital. In his poetry, Thomas embraced an exuberant romanticism in the encounter between self and world and a joyous riot in the lushness of language. His work falls into three periods---an early "womb-tomb" phase during which he produced a notebook, which he later mined for further poems, a middle one troubled by marriage and war, and a final acceptance of the human condition. The exuberant rhetoric of his work belies an equally strong devotion to artistry, what he once called "my craft or sullen art." His great "Fern Hill," for example, builds its imagery of the rejoicing innocence of childhood on a strict and demanding syllabic count. A recollection of boyhood holidays on the farm of his aunt and uncle, that poem places its emotion within an Edenic framework typical of Thomas's work. The impressive sonnet sequence "Altarwise by Owl-Light" (1936) combines the internal quest of romanticism with a more elaborate religious outlook in tracing the birth and spiritual autobiography of a poet. Almost at the end of his career he produced the moving elegy "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" (1952), written during the final illness of his father. Despite his periods of doubt and dissipation, Thomas celebrated the fullness of life. As he wrote in a note to his Collected Poems (1952), "These poems, with all their crudities, doubts, and confusion, are written for the love of Man and in praise of God, and I'd be a damn fool if they weren't." (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Fern Hill and Other Poems
- Alternate titles
- Fern Hill
- First words
- This day winding down now
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- Reviews
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- Languages
- English
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- ISBNs
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