Dylan Thomas: Especially When the October Wind

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2.3, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, course: PS Dylan Thomas, language: English, abstract: Dylan Thomas's 18 Poems was published in December of 1934, when he was only 20 years old. Even though the poet was almost still a teenager, this collection, '... exhibited the deeper insight and superb craftmanship of a major twentieth century English poet.' Ackerman tells us that18 Poemswas the product of a young and obsessed mind. He also mentions the unity of theme, technique and attitude in Thomas's first collection of poetry. Actually, the first half of his poetic work was written within eight years. It was produced in his period of adolescence and early manhood. This extraordinary creative period started when Thomas was 16 years old and ended when he was 24 years old. It is very noteworthy that such praised poetry was written at such a young age, since poetry is the most concentrated literary genre. Language is reduced and the core of a problem, or a fact is presented right away. Usually, it takes an experienced and wise mind to produce essential literature like poetry. The poem, which will be discussed in this paper is 'Especially When the October Wind'. It was first published on October 24 in 1934, a couple of days before Dylan's birthday, though he did not publish it as a 'birthday poem.' Later, it was also published as one of Dylan's18 Poemsand therefore belongs to that highly respected series of poems that Dylan produced as a young man. Predominantly, it could be labeled as a fall, or 'October poem,'7because a fall scene at the seaside is presented. As always with Thomas however, there are various levels of interpretation possible and the fall scene only seems to be the outward layer of a multidimensional understanding of the poem.