I am a big fan of Dylan Thomas ever since I heard a recording of him reciting his poem ‘do not go gentle into that good night’. I heard that 30 years ago on the radio and can still hear him almost singing this poem. I remember that it was followed by a piece of music from Stravinsky, based on this very poem. I have never ever heard it again (if anyone knows where I can get the recording of the combination of poem and music, please let me know) but I did buy the Collected poems.
The language Thomas uses, is actually too difficult for me. Some of his poems I don’t get at all, but when I am fascinated by them that doesn’t stop me from reading them over and over. But when I think about it: that happens to me with Dutch poets as well. The simple concept of meaning doesn’t apply to poetry. It is not possible to get the ‘full meaning’ by definition. Poetry is interesting because the meaning is not a fixed, simple thing. It changes every time you read the poem, it evolves during the time. The meaning grows and evolves. This characteristic applies to many more means of communication, but we do not always realise that. Come to think of it: everything apart from user manuals (and nobody but the writers understand those) shares this characteristic with poems, only less obvious.
Another interesting phenomenon about poems is the hybrid between form and meaning. You can’t separate them. The medium is the message. The words are the message. Especially with Dylan Thomas, who sort of moulds the words by reusing them throughout the poem in slightly different ways. Every time you read the word again in a new context, the meaning of the previous one is echoed, and in this way the words catch more meaning during the poem. But you would never be able to tell how. It is not an obvious meaning that you could define in a dictionary. It is more like the meaning of music. You can’t tell it, you just have to read it. As an experiment I will give you the last couplet of a poem that sort of keeps me busy the last days:
Flower, flower the peoples fusion.
Oh light in zenith, the coupled bud,
And the flame in the flesh’s vision.
Out of the sea, the drive of oil,
Socket and grave, the brassy blood,
Flower, flower, all all and all.
Probably if you read this, you won’t be completely off the world at all, because the words have not yet been ‘moulded’ for you. You haven’t yet had the previous four times ‘flesh’ was used, or the three times of ‘ all and all’ (not to mention the other times the word ‘all’ is used single) or the opening couplet, linking ‘oil’ to both lave and ice. And this as only the linking through words. There is echo in meaning as well.
So try to read the whole poem, and see what happens!
Tags: Add new tag, art & literature, poetry, semiotic