And Death Shall Have No Dominion

Conclusion

Third Stanza Notes

Allusions

The last stanza of the poem shifts the focus to nature, the cycle of rebirth and new beginnings.

• Characters: seagulls, flowers, and the sun
• Setting: God's creations Earth, water, and the sky
• Complex Metaphors: "Heads of the characters hammer through daisies".

New life springs, like a flower that lifts its head during the rain. the significance of the daisy is to symbolize innocence.

• Imagery: the sea

Dylan Thomas highlights the eternal strength and undying nature of the human spirit. For him, death has no real victory over the life of man. The spirit of the dead still lives on. The dead also lives in the memory of their loved ones. The poem pays tribute to the undying and eternal strength of the human spirit. It is because of this strength that death does not claim ultimate victory over humanity.

• The title of the poem, "And Death Shall Have No Dominion" is an allusion to the Bible, Romans chapter 6 verse 9 "We are sure of this because Christ rose from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him".
• In other words, it is certain that death has no dominion because Christ rose from the dead.

Third Stanza

And death shall have no dominion.

No more may gulls cry at their ears

Or waves break loud on the seashores;

Where blew a flower may a flower no more

Lift its head to the blows of the rain;

Though they be mad and dead as nails,

Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;

Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,

And death shall have no dominion.

Second Stanza

Second Stanza cont.

The second stanza of the poem talks about human suffrage on Earth. This stanza explains that the souls of dead humans does not perish (die).

• Characters: humans being tortured and a unicorn which represents God
• Setting: under the sea
• Complex Metaphors: "Faith in their hands, shall snap in two".

Thomas is comparing faith with a wooden stick.

• Imagery: creation

And death shall have no dominion.

Under the windings of the sea

They lying long shall not die windily;

Twisting on racks when sinews give way,

Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;

Faith in their hands shall snap in two,

And the unicorn evils run them through;

Split all ends up they shan't crack;

And death shall have no dominion.

First Stanza cont.

The first stanza of the poem talks about death stripping human's of their physical bodies and leaving behind their immortal souls.

• Characters: dead humans
• Setting: on Earth (the skeletons of the humans). the souls of those humans are resting amongst the stars.
• Complex Metaphor: "They shall have stars at elbow and foot".

The metaphor: The mortal skin is replaced with eternal glory.

• Imagery: Death and Man Kind

Literary Movement

First Stanza

Romanticism:

a revolt against the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature. It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature, but had a major impact on historiography, education and the natural sciences.

-- Dylan uses symbols of nature to express his feelings about death in human society.

Modernism:

refers to the modern cultural movements revolts against traditional literary forms and concepts of art, architecture, religion, culture, civilization, literature after the effects of WW1 modernist believed art should represent industrialized society's

And death shall have no dominion.

Dead man naked they shall be one

With the man in the wind and the west moon;

When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,

They shall have stars at elbow and foot;

Though they go mad they shall be sane,

Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;

Though lovers be lost love shall not;

And death shall have no dominion.

Historical Notes

• The Great Depression

• World War 1
• World War 2

Biographical Notes

Theme

• Born in Swansea Wales on October 27, 1914
• Left school at the age of 16, to become a journalist for a short period of time.
• In 1932, Thomas took his love for poetry serious and started writing poems full-time.
• In Thomas' late teens he had already composed more than half of his collected poems.
• "And Death Shall Have No Dominion" was published in May 1933
• In 1934 Thomas published his first book titled '18 Poems'
• The '18 poems' drew from a collection of poetry notebooks that Thomas had written years earlier

• Although people die physically, their souls live on forever.
• Do not fear death because it is not the end.

Dylan Thomas: "And Death Shall Have No Dominion"

Thesis

Dylan Thomas "And Death Shall Have No Dominion" enlightens the idea of undying and everlasting strength of the human spirit through the use of imagery, allusion, and metaphor.

Naftali Petit-Homme

May 14, 2014