ASSIGNMENT SUBMITTED TO

ASSIGNMENT SUBMITTED BY SUMMAN ZULFIQAR

FAIZA REHMAN

AYESHA KIRAN

SAMAN EJAZ

SADEEN

M.A ENGLISH LITERATURE

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MODERN LANGUAGES

ISLAMABAD

DATE 8TH JULY, 2018

Dylan Thomas, “Being But Men”

POETRY

Being but men, we walked into the trees

Afraid, letting our syllables be soft
For fear of waking the rooks,
For fear of coming
Noiselessly into a world of wings and cries.

If we were children we might climb,

Catch the rooks sleeping, and break no twig,
And, after the soft ascent,
Thrust out our heads above the branches
To wonder at the unfailing stars.

Out of confusion, as the way is,

And the wonder that man knows,
Out of the chaos would come bliss.

That, then, is loveliness, we said,

Children in wonder watching the stars,
Is the aim and the end.

Being but men, we walked into the trees

INTRODUCTION OF POET

Dylan Thomas was born in 1914 and died at 1953. He born when the first world war broken out
and died when the Second World War was over. We say that he is a man or child of true world
war. His poetry has a romantic taste. He sounds like a romantic poet. He is not a romantic poet at
certain level. He generally does not use rhyme scheme. He belongs to modern age. His poetry
takes away from daily routine life. He writes about horror of wars. He was so sensitive poet so
due to his sensitivity he was in habit of over drink.

EXPLANATION OF THE POEM

 Stanza no 1

At first stanza poet creates a difference between a young man and children. He creates the
binaries of man and children. According to poet children are braver then man. They do
not think about danger they just want to achieve their goal. Children have no fear. They
can walk on crook but is afraid to walk on crook. Children are better than man. Children
do not know about fear. They have to be taught fear. Children do not think about
consequences. They are curious and they explore sometimes taking risks. Thomas says
we walk into trees. People do not walk on trees. They walk in forests. Then he talks
“letting our syllables be soft” it suggests that there is respect for grandeur of trees and
perhaps nature. If we were not focused on trees and nature we might be gabbing to one
another and not paying attention to anyone. Here adults are aware of nature. In this
stanza poet uses simple past tense whereas at second stanza he uses wish tense.

 Stanza no 2
In second stanza the poet says that if they were children we might climb and catch the
crooks. It shows that poet prefers a child upon man. The child sense of wonder and ability
to achieve it, should be the aim and the end. We should all aspire be like “children In
wonder watching the stars” but as we adult we lost our innocence and confidence and
can only walk in trees. Children might be wonder about unfailing stars. They do not
 know anything scientifically about stars. So it’s a magic for them because they are so
innocent. The poet might be wanted to say that we should not kill our inner child in
ourselves. It makes life beautiful. He uses the technique of DE familiarization.

 Stanza no 3
Out of confusion as the is refers to path of life. We never really answer all the questions.
The way is confusing. The more we learn less we know. Bliss can only be found if we are
willing to let go and allow things to simply be without worrying so much about them.

 Stanza no 4
In this stanza the poet expresses his feelings. If we only can keep that inner child alive
and not so becomes weighted down by seriousness of adulthood, it will be more lovely
for us. Some elderly people become more childlike towards the end. Also simplicity is
liberating. Try not to become weighted down by complications and material down.

Themes of poem

 Sense of confusion
 Fear
 Desire
 Risk
 Restlessness of man and selfishness

Conflict in the poem

 Grown up life vs childhood
 Materialism vs selflessness
 Worldliness vs innocence
 Fear vs confidence
 Confusion vs bliss
 Limitation vs potential
Literary devices of poem

1) Rhyme scheme is not regular in this poem

2) There is repetition of following words like children, out, and, fear, soft, wonder, stars
3) Use of alliteration i.e we were children, wonder watching, world wings, climb catch, that
then, being but, chaos come.
4) Poet uses metaphor like wings and cries, wings synecdoche
5) Semantic meaning like climb and ascent
6) Poet uses the technique of DE familiarization. He wants to make his poem
argumentative.
7) The poem starts and ends with the same line. It shows that he draws attention to the
limitations of adult man.