Dylan Thomas' Views on Death
...ghtheartedness and more about more serious issues, particularly death. Now, Dylan Thomas is most famous for his poetry on this issue. Dylan's famous work, "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" was written during this time, and it clearly captures his animosity towards death itself. Many have argued that Dylan Thomas was schizophrenic. (Holbrook, 1972) This observation may be supported by the presence of three characteristics that appear to be present in the majority of Dylan's work. Holbrook states that the first of these is an overwhelming attitude of omnipotence. We see an example of this in Dylan's famous poem "And Death Shall Have No Dominion". In this work, the speaker describes the future. However, the speaker seems to possess unobtainable knowledge. Things are written such as vivid descriptions of what one might believe to be as the end of the world. This is apparent through the poem's closing phrase, "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." Perhaps as Dylan wrote this, he was merely speculating on what the end of the world might be like. There is no doubt that he was a creative man. Or maybe there was something deeper going on. If Dylan Thomas was in fact a diagnosed schizophrenic, he may actually have believed that he possessed this information. Also, Dylan would have felt superior to death, as if it would have no effect over him. This could be illustrated in the line, "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." According to Holbrook, another symptom arguing that Dylan Thomas may have been schizophrenic is his attitude of isolation and detachment. Apparently, the majority of schizophrenics are also depressed, so these characteristics are often present. Dylan often wrote in this way, as seen in his poem "Deaths and Entrances", in which we read, "One enemy, of many, who knows well / Your heart is luminous / In the watched dark, quivering through locks and caves, / Will pull the thunderbolts / To shut the sun." This definitely paints a picture of despair and isolation. The symbolic imagery of the shutting out of the sun gives us a glimpse at what is going on inside the mind of Dylan Thomas. Phrases such as this describe a man who feels shut out from the world. Perhaps Dylan was depressed as he wrote these words. Or then again, maybe it was just the images of a creative mind at work. A third and final characteristic that Holbrook speculates designates Dylan Thomas a schizophrenic is the possession of a preoccupation with inner reality. In other words, a schizophrenic person may have such as Dylan may concentrate a great deal on what they old to be true, their own personal belief system. This example is harder to illustrate, because nowhere is Dylan Thomas's "inner believe system" thoroughly documented. But perhaps by reading Dylan's words one of his most famous poems, "A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London". This work is regarded as a "war poem". This is because it describes a catastrophe from a civilian's point of view. (Davies, 1998) Dylan uses this small child's passing to put death into a wider context. He does this by describing death as a cycle of nature, particularly in the line "…the last light breaking / And the still hour / Is come of the sea tumbling in harness." This of course is reality, because all things do eventually die. However, the emotionless way in which Dylan describes this cycle clearly illustrates a refusal to mourn this cycle. Perhaps Dylan's inner reality was a state of denial. As to whether or not this, and the other two characteristics mentioned, automatically makes Dylan Thomas a schizophrenic, remains in question. Others have argued that Dylan Thomas did not simply refuse to deal with emotions, but rather possessed an inability to properly deal with them. There is no doubt that he led a troubled life, which eventually drove him to become an alcoholic. His father died a difficult death, ...