Fern Hill by Dylan Thomas : Detailed summary and analysis

 

Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
     The night above the dingle starry,
          Time let me hail and climb
     Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
          Trail with daisies and barley
     Down the rivers of the windfall light.

And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns
About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,
     In the sun that is young once only,
          Time let me play and be
     Golden in the mercy of his means,
And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calves
Sang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear and cold,

 

All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay
Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air
     And playing, lovely and watery
          And fire green as grass.
     And nightly under the simple stars
As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the farm away,
All the moon long I heard, blessed among stables, the nightjars
     Flying with the ricks, and the horses
          Flashing into the dark.

And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white
With the dew, come back, the cock on his shoulder: it was all
     Shining, it was Adam and maiden,
          The sky gathered again
     And the sun grew round that very day.

 

In the sun born over and over,
          I ran my heedless ways,
     My wishes raced through the house high hay
And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows
In all his tuneful turning so few and such morning songs
     Before the children green and golden
          Follow him out of grace,

Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, 

 

 In the moon that is always rising,
          Nor that riding to sleep
     I should hear him fly with the high fields
And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land.
Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
          Time held me green and dying
     Though I sang in my chains like the sea.

 

 “Fern Hill” can be considered as one of the most beautiful as well as evocative recollections of the early childhood of the poet. It is marked by several daring experimentations and romantic imageries. Dylan Thomas begins the poem like a storyteller. At present the speaker recollects his past thus the unusual word combination occurs “Now as I was young”. At the outset itself he creates a special aura and invites the readers to set forth his golden moments of childhood. The word ‘easy’, here recalls the comfort and freedom of childhood. 

The poem in general noted for its unusual word combination, complex metaphorical language, and surrealistic sensuous imageries like Lilting house, windfall light and wanderer white etc. His attempt was to give a special aesthetic experience by providing new perspectives. Those novel expressions offer a new realm of thought and imagination. Thus, the “lilting house” becomes one that is full of joy with songs. This blend does not give a physical description of the house, rather an emotional one.

The reader can experience the child’s pleasure. This is a key technique in “Fern Hill” as the poet recreates the idealized dreams of childhood summers. In addition, he experiments with surprisingly new ways of presentation to capture the reader’s attention. The unusual blend with its word play becomes fascinating and playful simile. “Happy as the grass is green” does not necessarily translate into a specific, identifiable amount of joy. But it indicates a profound delight experienced in childhood. Green, the color of spring and renewal, is used throughout the poem. 

Above the valley the night abounds with stars.

Poet employs personification when he introduces time, he goes back and forth through his memories of golden moments. The use of golden adds the connotation of being delighted and far away from the earthly agonies.

The child was the master and the prince of all around him.

Poet recaptures his close encounter with the nature as he walks slowly among the trees and flowers. The natural imageries such of the Fern hill create a visionary gleam and sensual impressions.

 “as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns” indicates the vitality of innocent childhood . Nostalgia becomes the central concern of the poem, since it is a denial of painful present. A sense of well being is emphasized again as green is repeated and now joins with carefree. The phrase famous among the barns signifies the child’s sense of being the centre of attraction. Although, the child feels that he will be young forever, while even the sun too shall fade, in fact he who is young once only.

 

The emphasis on the color green and golden indicate young and blessed, occurs throughout in the poem. The poet recalls all the ways in which children view time moves slowly and indeed so kind towards children, as it moves in a special pace.

The poem offers a close snapshot of his encounter with the nature. He presents the reader with a series of images, he becomes huntsman and herdsman. The long sunny days in the golden hay fields which indicates a sense of joy, comfort and contentment. Here abounds exaggerated expressions as it shows the childhood perspectives. The hay fields seem enormously high, even the fire can glow green, yet another surrealistic expression, may be indication the special moment of delight. Poet also creates a religious aura, as it leaves the traces of Sabbath note.

Poet focuses on the starry night in the farm and he creates a typical dream like sequence. As the speaker goes to sleep the owls were taking charge of the farm under the protection of the moon.

Later, the dawn bring back the shining farm with morning dew. He makes use of the color white to symbolise innocence, purity as well as renewal. The stanza focuses on the striking images of wonder. He compares each morning to the first morning of Adam and Eve. In that sense the farm becomes the metaphor for Eden garden before their fall.

The expressions like ‘new made clouds’ and ‘happy as the heart was long’ reinforce the childhood days. Then the poem slightly becomes a serious one as it introduces a sense of loss. ‘Sun born over and over’ beautifully marks the passage of time or the journey from innocence to experience.

 

Until this point, the details presented the idealized memories of childhood, recalling what it felt like to be free and easy, to feel that time was generous, giving endless sunny days. Now the adult perspective enters, mourning that the number of those glorious days is so limited.

Indeed, time is a great deadener it gradually takes everything away. The concluding stanza seems to be poignant. “Time held me green and dying”, here green becomes the color of decay. The emotional impact of these lines are more easily felt than translated, the adult has become a prisoner of time. His life has boundaries like the sea; time orders his movements, just as the moon directs the tidal force of the sea.