Poem In October by Dylan Thomas summary and analysis

 

Poem In October

It was my thirtieth year to heaven
Woke to my hearing from harbour and neighbour wood
   And the mussel pooled and the heron
           Priested shore
       The morning beckon
With water praying and call of seagull and rook
And the knock of sailing boats on the net webbed wall
       Myself to set foot
           That second
In the still sleeping town and set forth.

   My birthday began with the water-
Birds and the birds of the winged trees flying my name
   Above the farms and the white horses
           And I rose
       In rainy autumn
And walked abroad in a shower of all my days.
High tide and the heron dived when I took the road
       Over the border
           And the gates
Of the town closed as the town awoke.

   A springful of larks in a rolling
Cloud and the roadside bushes brimming with whistling
   Blackbirds and the sun of October
           Summery
       On the hill's shoulder,
Here were fond climates and sweet singers suddenly
Come in the morning where I wandered and listened
       To the rain wringing
           Wind blow cold
In the wood faraway under me.

       But all the gardens
Of spring and summer were blooming in the tall tales
Beyond the border and under the lark full cloud.
       There could I marvel
           My birthday
Away but the weather turned around.

   It turned away from the blithe country
And down the other air and the blue altered sky
   Streamed again a wonder of summer
           With apples
       Pears and red currants
And I saw in the turning so clearly a child's
Forgotten mornings when he walked with his mother
       Through the parables
           Of sun light
And the legends of the green chapels

   And the twice told fields of infancy
That his tears burned my cheeks and his heart moved in mine.
   These were the woods the river and sea
           Where a boy
       In the listening
Summertime of the dead whispered the truth of his joy
To the trees and the stones and the fish in the tide.
       

Away but the weather turned around. And the true
   Joy of the long dead child sang burning
           In the sun.
       It was my thirtieth
Year to heaven stood there then in the summer noon
Though the town below lay leaved with October blood.
       O may my heart's truth
           Still be sung
On this high hill in a year's turning

 

Poem in October celebrates the birthday of the poet Dylan Thomas. It is intensely personal and sentimental as he expresses his own personal experiences on behalf of his birthday. He deliberately detaches from social issues as he was like an escapist like the Romantic poet John keats. He was born in 27^th October 1914 and wrote many birthday poems.

He woke up early in his 30^th birthday and started walking through the woods and enjoying the beauty of nature. As he was listening to the rhythm of nature, he can also find out mussels resting in the pools and the still standing of the herons. He feels morning was calling him to the heart of nature. He could see the sounds of sailing boats and different birds such as seagull and rook.

The poet was walking through the town to village while the entire world was still sleeping. His birthday began with the sight and sound of the birds in the water and the tree. He feels like they are calling out his name.

As a result of the snow fall the entire field has become white, it was rainy autumn season in October. In spite of the drizzle, he goes out to enjoy the beauty of the nature. The poet was exposed to the gentle shower, he repeats this in every birthday and series of stirring golden memories come to his mind.

The poet explains the lives around him. It was the spring time for the larks. A host of larks and black birds rolling and whistling in the bushes. The extreme sunlight seems to be the season is summer, in fact the season was autumn, and the poet is in the early days of the summer season.  He describes the beauty of nature with sweet singers and the sound of rain in a distant wood.

The garden presented here was like the garden in the imaginary tales, always blooming with full of birds. He expresses the sense of wonder and really enjoys his birthday.

The poet sddenly acknowledges that the weather and circumstances change. The weather shifts away from the happy country, introducing a vision of summer with fruits. The poet reminisces about childhood moments spent with his mother and the stories of sunlight and green chapels. He reflects the childhood days of summer, where shared emotions and truths were whispered to nature. The burning tears came out as he remembers the bygone past childhood spent in the woods.

 

Despite the desire to marvel at his birthday, the changing weather is a reminder of the past joys of a long-dead childhood, evoking a burning joy in the sun. The poet, now in his thirtieth year, stands in the summer noon, observing the town below covered in October's autumnal colors. The poet expresses a wish for his inner truth to continue being sung on the high hill in the turning of the years.

Poem In October by Dylan Thomas in fact is a poignant and introspective exploration of the poet's thirtieth birthday, blending nature, memory, and the passage of time. Poet uses realistic snapshots of the natural world to mirror the poet's emotions and thoughts. The harbor, birds, sea, and changing weather serve as a backdrop to the interior journey of self-reflection. The poem facilitates the readers floating through the past of the poet.  The thirtieth birthday becomes a symbolic a moment of reflection on the passage of time and the layers of memory.

Childhood memories are a recurring theme. The poet nostalgically recalls moments with his mother, emphasizing the simplicity and purity of those early experiences. Childhood becomes a source of wisdom, truth, and joy that resonates through time.

Beneath the surface, the poem delves into philosophical reflections on life, mortality, and the enduring power of memory. The poet grapples with the transient nature of existence while finding solace in the immortal  echoes of childhood.