Title: Fern Hill

Text Type – Poem

Author – Dylan Thomas

Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
The night above the dingle starry,
Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
Trail with daisies and barley
Down the rivers of the windfall light.

And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns
About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,
In the sun that is young once only,
Time let me play and be
Golden in the mercy of his means,
And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calves
Sang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear and cold,
And the sabbath rang slowly
In the pebbles of the holy streams.

All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay
Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air
And playing, lovely and watery
And fire green as grass.
And nightly under the simple stars
As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the farm away,
All the moon long I heard, blessed among stables, the nightjars
Flying with the ricks, and the horses
Flashing into the dark.

And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white
With the dew, come back, the cock on his shoulder: it was all
Shining, it was Adam and maiden,
The sky gathered again
And the sun grew round that very day.
So it must have been after the birth of the simple light
In the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses walking warm
Out of the whinnying green stable
On to the fields of praise.

And honoured among foxes and pheasants by the gay house
Under the new made clouds and happy as the heart was long,
In the sun born over and over,
I ran my heedless ways,
My wishes raced through the house high hay
And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows
In all his tuneful turning so few and such morning songs
Before the children green and golden
Follow him out of grace,

Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would take me
Up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my hand,
In the moon that is always rising,
Nor that riding to sleep
I should hear him fly with the high fields
And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land.
Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like the sea

The overall theme of this poem is comparing ones life of now and their childhood. What I think Thomas is trying to express in this poem is how the world seemed like a different place when he was a child and that he had such an innocent view on the world. As a child the narrator felt like he was in control of the Fern Hill “And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns” this quote shows that he didn’t need others to make him feel powerful, he was respected by his surroundings and he was dominant in his own world. The author uses imagery, similes and metaphors to describe how he viewed the landscape around him as a child; “All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air and playing, lovely and watery And fire green as grass.” Thomas clearly shows the desire to relive his past as he misses the feeling of not having to worry about anything. He clearly has fond memories of this place he is revisiting and as a reader it feels sad because it reminds us of how limited our time is on this earth and how fast it can go.

I feel like this is a very easy poem to relate to as everyone who has reached a mature enough age knows how it feels to look back on their youth and recall memories and think about how different times have gotten. Even though I am still considered to be young I still often find myself reflecting on the past and how much of a different person I am. When I look back on myself when I was really young my flaws then really stand out, as a young child I was ignorant, selfish and stupid. I still have many flaws to this day but I know that no single human being will ever be perfect. I think when reading this poem that it’s nice to look back on when times were easier but I think that it’s important to understand that I am a different person know and in my opinion a better one. I know that in ten years time I will look back on today and judge myself harshly because my opinions and outlook on life will be very different. Recalling on your life should be a fun activity and there’s no point of moaning about when times were better. I still have a big future ahead of me and I want to use that to change the world as opposed to reliving the easier times because it’s impossible to go back.

This poem is very deep and has many layers attached to it. I think that portrays how quickly time flies and how looking back, everything is so different. It accurately portrayed what the past feels like.