Reflection - (5/3 to 5/7)

I have decided to study a famous poet named Dylan Thomas. Dylan Thomas was a Welsh poet who grew up in Swansea, in the south of Wales. Born in October of 1927, he enjoyed a prosperous career as a poet after dropping out of school and pursuing writing until he died in November of 1953. He is remembered for such famous poems as: “Do not go gentle into that good night,” “In Country Sleep,” and “And Death Shall Have No Dominion”. With recurring themes of mortality in his works, he made name for himself as a successful modernist poet within the Romanticism Movement of poetry. He is also characterized to have a notable speaking voice, and intense drinking habits.

More on Dylan Thomas: http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/150

Lie Still, Sleep Becalmed by Dylan Thomas

Lie still, sleep becalmed, sufferer with the wound
In the throat, burning and turning. All night afloat
On the silent sea we have heard the sound
That came from the wound wrapped in the salt sheet.

Under the mile off moon we trembled listening
To the sea sound flowing like blood from the loud wound
And when the salt sheet broke in a storm of singing
The voices of all the drowned swam on the wind.

Open a pathway through the slow sad sail,
Throw wide to the wind the gates of the wandering boat
For my voyage to begin to the end of my wound,
We heard the sea sound sing, we saw the salt sheet tell.
Lie still, sleep becalmed, hide the mouth in the throat,
Or we shall obey, and ride with you through the drowned.

This poem is essentially a dark perception of the unpredictability of the sea. Using sinister, hell-like descriptions Thomas was able to capture the fear associated with the power of the ocean. Serving as a plea to the sea, the line “Or we shall obey, and ride with you through the drowned,” captures the message of the poem. The hope that the sea will “lie still” and “sleep becalmed” personifies the ocean, and gives the reader the impression that the ocean is unpredictable. This is interesting because that is also what the narrator wants for the wounded sailor.

The events of this poem seem to center around a couple of sailors afloat after experience some sort of wreck (since they talk about a “sufferer with the wound”). Trying to listen for signs of hostile ships and watching the ocean closely for troubling waves or storms are very important actions to note throughout this poem.

I enjoyed this poem, even though it was somewhat dark, because it painted a vivid picture of

(what I believe to be) two sailors adrift at sea. With one of them wounded, all they can do is wait.

They are at the mercy of the sea.