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Religion in the Modernist Poetry

Third collective paper: "RELIGION IN THE MODERNISM"

Dylan Marlais thomas

Our next step is Dylan Marlais Thomas. He was born on 1914 in Swansea (Southern Wales), and he was characterized by a contradictory nature: His father was atheist and his mother a staunch believer of the western religion; this is the reason why Thomas has been always regarded as an ambivalent writer. His mother succeeded in instilling some of her religious influence; however Thomas was most influenced by the atheism of his father.[xix] [xx]

We have to take into account that the religion reflected in Thomas’ work is not actually the merciful God of the Bible; in his writings we may find darkness, death as an inevitable fact, references to pagan gods from Celt origins. In general terms, it is not advisable to interpret his religion as the Christian tradition we are familiar with.[xxi]

Welsh culture was deeply influenced by Puritanism and this heritage was inescapable for Dylan Thomas. Andrew Sinclair in his book Dylan Thomas: Poet of His People describes that sort of welsh Puritanism influenced on the author: The Welsh were in fear of their dark desires, their natural bawdiness, of their love of drink and chat and copulation [yet] after Wesley, seem to have lept first into a hell-fire puritanism and then a suffocating respectability that was the condition of . . . Swansea society, in which Dylan was born, and from which he fled, against which he rebelled, out of which he could never escape.[xxii] The contradictory nature of Dylan, mentioned before, is his most representative attitude: on the one hand, facing the social tradition, Puritanism instilled on him how to behave correctly, but on the other hand, he was "a mighty drinker and rioter". [xxiii]

Birth, childhood, adolescence, sexuality, religion, death, and legend, the multiple universes of symbols and the contradictory nature are the elements that shape his poetry. Dylan Thomas tries to learn the limits of the reality - the beauty and the horror of living - through an active participation on both extremes. We are dealing with the ecstasy of life and the horror of life, and through that opposed paths we find Dylan Thomas.[xxiv]

Among his most famous works we find 18 Poems released in 1934 and Twenty-five Poems published in 1934.[xxv] Dylan Thomas has never sought metaphysical neither philosophical answers in his works, he believes in God. However, his religion is not mediation, but it constitutes a part of life. Dylan chose a kind of natural religion, his symbols and references to the bible constitutes his direct knowledge. [xxvi]

We are going to analyze the poem Vision and Prayer. In Vision and Prayer, Dylan describes the state of innocence before the fall. It was first published in 1945, and consists of twelve 'shaped' stanzas, each of them starts with a single syllable and adds a syllable per line, and then returns to a single syllable at the end. The following is an extract from “Vision and Prayer" to commemorate the birth of his son.
Vision and Prayer[xxvii]
Who
Are you
Who is born
In the next room
So loud to my own
That i can hear the womb
Opening and the dark run
Over the ghost and the dropped son
Behind the wall thin as a wren’s bone?
In the birth bloody room unknown
To the burn and turn of time
And the heart print of man
Bows no baptism
But dark alone
Blessing on
The wild
Child

We can notice that this poem is written carefully with exact combination of syllables and extension that results the shape of a womb. The alliteration of the vowel "o" provides the effect of the mystery of creation, and at the same time, it imitates the heartbeat of a newborn baby. The poem is clearly written from a religious point of view: “baptism” “blessing”.[xxviii]
Finally, Dylan Thomas demonstrates that poetry, although being religious does not need to be placed in a world of abstractions, but it should be built up within the union of the body and the nature.[xxix]

[xix] “Britain’s Last Romantic Poet: Dylan Thomas” TheHistoryNet British Heritage. Joan Gooding. 19 April, 2007. <http://www.historynet.com/magazines/british_heritage/>

[xx] "Neurotic Poets: Dylan Thomas" Victorian Ladies & Gentlemen's Society. Brenda G. Mondragon. 17 April, 2007 <http://www.neuroticpoets.com/thomas/>.

[xxi] “Britain’s Last Romantic Poet: Dylan Thomas” TheHistoryNet British Heritage. Joan Gooding. 19 April, 2007. <http://www.historynet.com/magazines/british_heritage/>

[xxii] “Britain’s Last Romantic Poet: Dylan Thomas” TheHistoryNet British Heritage. Joan Gooding. 19 April, 2007. <http://www.historynet.com/magazines/british_heritage/>

[xxiii] “Britain’s Last Romantic Poet: Dylan Thomas” TheHistoryNet British Heritage. Joan Gooding. 19 April, 2007. <http://www.historynet.com/magazines/british_heritage/>

[xxiv] “Dylan Thomas: Poemas Completos” Traducción, prólogo y notas de Elizabeth Azcona Cranwell. © ediciones Corregidor. 20 April, 2007. <http://www.brigadapomorska.com/>

[xxv] "Neurotic Poets: Dylan Thomas" Victorian Ladies & Gentlemen's Society. Brenda G. Mondragon. 17 April, 2007 <http://www.neuroticpoets.com/thomas/>.

[xxvi] “Dylan Thomas: Poemas Completos” Traducción, prólogo y notas de Elizabeth Azcona Cranwell. © ediciones Corregidor. 20 April, 2007. <http://www.brigadapomorska.com/>

[xxvii] “Dylan Thomas: “Vision and Prayer” poetry archive” plagiarist.com. 20 April, 2007. <http://plagiarist.com/poetry/1148/>

[xxviii] “The Langara Writing Centre: how to analyze a poem” 28 September 2005. 20 April, 2007. <http://www.langara.bc.ca/writingcentre/handouts/h-poetry.html>

[xxix] “Dylan Thomas: Poemas Completos” Traducción, prólogo y notas de
<http://www.brigadapomorska.com/>