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Poem: before I knocked
Author: Dylan Thomas
Book: collected poems 1934-1953
Place of publication: London
Year of publication: 2003

INTRODUCTION
I decided to work with this author because he is the only poet from Wales that I know and because in my opinion this poet had lot’s of problems in his life, so I think that this author is very interesting.

DYLAN THOMAS
Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea (Wales) and his father brought him to speak English. Thomas attended Swansea grammar school and he left it at the age of 16 to become a reporter, some time later he published some books of poetry like “eighteen poems”, he married and had three sons and finally he died because he had very big problem of alcoholism.

(www.wikipedia.com)

HISTORIC CONTEXT
He was born at the beginning of World War I and it can explain why he hates conflicts. Dylan’s father was an English literature teacher of the school which Thomas attended (Swansea grammar school) and influenced him in his passion for poetry.

(www.wikipedia.com)

THEME OF THE POEM
This poem talks about a person who is dead or is going to die and with this poem he is remembering all the good and bad things that have happened to him along his life.

TITLE OF THE POEM
The title of this poem is “before I knocked”, in my opinion this title has a very big relationship with the theme of the poem because I think that when the author says “before I knocked” he wants to say before I die and here he is using a metaphor

AUTHOR’S VIEWPOINT
Before reading Dylan’s poem I thought that he was a very dark person because he has had a very difficult life but after reading it in my opinion he had some very good moments in his life too and he remembers more his good moments than his bad ones because he is expressing it with this poem.

INFLUENCES OF THE LANGUAGE
In my opinion in this author the influence of the language is very big because he was born and lived in Wales until he was 16 years old. So his way of writing has some influences of Welsh. This influences caused him some problems like critics of some of his works like “eighteen poems” by Anglo-Saxon Criticism but he was a wonderful poet and although he had this problem he could triumph in the field of English poetry.

OTHER INFLUENCES
Dylan’s poetry is so dark and in my opinion it is because he lived in a very difficult period that was World War I and because he had a very big problem with alcohol that caused him the death also he was a very bohemian person but also he was so unlucky and he had a very difficult life he is one of the most important poets of 20th century

PERSONAL RESPONSE
In my opinion it is a very beautiful poem because although it talks about death it makes it in a happy way because the person who is going to die is thinking that how he has been a very happy person during his life and he has completed it now he doesn’t matter die and I think that that die thinking in this things is a very beautiful way to die and I think too that this poem is very good because how I have said it talks about death in a happy way and I think that it is a very difficult and interesting thing.

SOURCES
-MLA (single author): Thomas, Dylan, collected poems 1934-1953, Phoenix, Before I knocked, London, 2003.
-URL: www.poetryconnection.net/poets/Dylan_Thomas/1100
-Other sources: www.wikipedia.com , www.google.es.


Before I knocked and flesh let enter,
With liquid hands tapped on the womb,
I who was as shapeless as the water
That shaped the Jordan near my home
Was brother to Mnetha's daughter
And sister to the fathering worm.

I who was deaf to spring and summer,
Who knew not sun nor moon by name,
Felt thud beneath my flesh's armour,
As yet was in a molten form
The leaden stars, the rainy hammer
Swung by my father from his dome.

I knew the message of the winter,
The darted hail, the childish snow,
And the wind was my sister suitor;
Wind in me leaped, the hellborn dew;
My veins flowed with the Eastern weather;
Ungotten I knew night and day.

As yet ungotten, I did suffer;
The rack of dreams my lily bones
Did twist into a living cipher,
And flesh was snipped to cross the lines
Of gallow crosses on the liver
And brambles in the wringing brains.

My throat knew thirst before the structure
Of skin and vein around the well
Where words and water make a mixture
Unfailing till the blood runs foul;
My heart knew love, my belly hunger;
I smelt the maggot in my stool.

And time cast forth my mortal creature
To drift or drown upon the seas
Acquainted with the salt adventure
Of tides that never touch the shores.
I who was rich was made the richer
By sipping at the vine of days.

I, born of flesh and ghost, was neither
A ghost nor man, but mortal ghost.
And I was struck down by death's feather.
I was a mortal to the last
Long breath that carried to my father
The message of his dying christ.

You who bow down at cross and altar,
Remember me and pity Him
Who took my flesh and bone for armour
And doublecrossed my mother's womb.