Title AN APPROACH TO "FERN HILL"
Author(s) SENAHA, Eiki
Citation 沖大論叢 = OKIDAI RONSO, 4(1-2): 1-6
Issue Date 1964-03-30
URL http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12001/10749
Rights 沖縄大学
AN APPROACH TO "·FERN HILL"
Eiki SENAHA
W. R. McAlpine states in his ~ssays on Contemporary English Literature
that one of the most perfect lyrics written in the Twentieth Century
is Dylan Thomas's poem "Fern Hill":
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 honored 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 1 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.
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 horses Flashing into the dark.
And then to awake, and the farm like a wanderer white W ith the dew, come back, the cock on his shoulder: it was a ll
Shining, it was Ada m 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
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In the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses walking warm Out of the whinnying green stable
On to the fields of Praise.
And honored 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 wa.ys,
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 poem "Fern Hill'' may or can be approached from the standpoint
of sheer pleasure of sound and rhythm for the reason that the reader is
deeply impressed with the poet's flowing rhythms, echoing sounds and
balanced repetitions in the poem. ln approaching the poem, however, we
should give more careful attention to the intricacies of structure, word
order and unexpected combinations ot words. There is an overrichness
and abundance of conflicting images that make the poem contradictory,
producing a complex emotional response. Then an approach to the poem
in terms of paradox would be helpful to gain a richer insight into the
poem. Before attacking the poem proper, an examination of the paradox
concept might be illuminating.
In his book The Well Wrought Urn Cleanth Brooks states that "the
language of poetry is the language of paradox," illustrating and elaborat
ing this approach. He further maintains that "apparantly the truth
which the poet utters can be approached only in terms of paradox,"
* Louis Untermeyer, Great Poems (Perman Books, New York, 1953)p. 530-1.
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and that "all metaphors involve some element of paradox." Then the
-poem "Fern Hill" seems to bear this out, for it manifests at least
twenty-one pertinent paradoxes in these tifty-four lines, some of which,
-providing the internal form and unity of the poem, will be considered
in this paper. Paradox is defined in the Webster's New Twentieth
Century Dictionary as: (1) A statement contrary to common belief; (2)
A statement that seems contradictory, unbelievable, or absurd but that
may actually be true in fact; (3) A statement that is self-contradictory;
(4) Something inconsistent with common experience or having contradictory
qualities or a person who is inconsistent or contradictory in character or
behaviour. Brooks himself defines the term briefly in his famous book
Understanding Poetry as: "A statement which seems on the surface
contradictory, but which involves an element of truth. Since there is an
element of contrast between the form of the statement and its real
implications, paradox is closely related to Irony." With this concept of
paradox in mind, let us apply it to the poem "Fern Hill."
The reader of the poem becomes aware of the immense dramatic tension
that is brought about by the paradoxical position of the "I" and
"Time." As stated several places in the poem, time let, permitted, or
allowed the "I" to act, play, grow, and achieve. The "I" was at the
mercy oi time's means. There are at least ten direct allusions to time
plus many more subtle hints; hence, the concept of time becomes thematic
in the poem. I would rather say that the contradictory position of time
and the "I" becomes thematic. The personification of ·time is apparent, . .
but when we consider time in the context it becomes deified in a sense.
These lines in the last .stanza serve to illustrate this: "Oh as I was
young and easy in the mercy of his means, /Time held me green and dying."
By observing the paradox, we gain a further insight into the poem.
The reader would first conceive of the personification of time and observe
the rather rank triteness of the expression; however, in conceiving of
the deification of time and its relation to the "I" the metaphor becomes
new and mentally invigorating. In realizing the juxtaposition of god-like
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time and the "I", the reader asks the question--Who is the "I"? --which.
leads ultimately to the overlying abstract paradox of the entire p::iem.
In answering the question, some might think that the "l" represents.
the delightful experiences of a boy in just being alive and the ephemerality
of this delight. Others might think ,that it stands for an adult reflecting
on the joys of youth. Still others might think that the "I" symbolizes
man, generic man, man evolving-- scientifically and spiritually. In p3rases.
like "prince of apple towns," "famous among barns," "honored among
foxes and pheasants," and "huntsman and herdsman," as well as in many
other places, Thomas tries to embrace human experience in those terms.
The latter would seem the most valid judgement in view of the whole
poem. This brings us to the supreme abstract paradox of the poem--i.e.
the contrast of the theory of evolution and the Christian myth. This
paradox ironically is developed by paradoxes, such as "I was huntsman
and herdsman," one meaning the killer and the other the protector. Now,
Thomas could mean that generically man was first a huntsman and a
herdsman or that he was hunter and herder simultaneously. He could
mean both of the above. I think he clearly means both, and more, for
that matter. Historically, man was first a hunter, and then, with the advent
of agriculture, he became a herdsman. Then man has been and is both.
This phrase also serves symbolically to illustrate the overall paradox:
scientifically man is a hunter, a hunter of facts and theories
to better his evironmental position; he is also a- herdsman, a herder
of other men in a Christian sense. The fourth stanza exemplifies this
grand paradox in a poetic manner par excellence.
In this stanza is found the crux of the internal structure and unity of
thepoem. Here the beginning of time, the beginning of man, the beginning
of the Christian myth, and the beginning of the evolutionary process
are revealed. "In the first, spinning place" seems to allude to the current
rtebular hypothesis, a theory which states the origin of the universe,
hence the origin of time. The references in the paradoxical phrase "Adam
and maiden" are obvious. "Spellbound horses" subtly suggests the concept
of evolution in "In the first, spinning place." While alluding to
evolution, it also suggests the Christian genesis or Christ's Nativity in
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"ike bk'th of the aimp1e light .. : the hMses that were struk m.ctaMI;' alive wmld ·cenamty be speltbnad While the para11Des here· a~ a~y PJWef{al. tltef are fotbld extendiq into the Dmtt staua.
Tbis final stama provides a denoument fur tbe dramatil: tensien that has bee!l estabtished. by the para:doodeal pesiticm of time ·aDd the "1" and.
illustrates the poem's prittcipal paradox. The lines: "Oh as I was~ and easy iD the !l'lei'Cy of his meana./'l'ime held. me green au. dying"
shGws tlWL Here dliifiei time becomes aD integral pervasive · ff)I'Ce · bl. relatilim to eYCiltlfhm and Christia1ility. The last ~of the poem is bigh]y •g;estive a.U sym'b0li& Does Tll0!iaas meaD that tbe "J•• was 4Yi'nl bl ywttt. (l!t'feeft) '? Is 'be loeiag trite by.·~ that every ~te we live we are cl.yiq ar 18 he belq pessimistie stating that generie
ftii8Jl is dylq a )"CCIIthful death I? I think DDt. GreeD synahlS gl'8Wth
a1ltl life. ·ltence evol!lltk The word ~dying'· l6 symbolic ill the Cbriatwi sense, as it is -..tved that .. to die'' is to live, to be rebem. Thomas
develops, by c:ontradieticm. tl!e concept that thcmgh man is dying, dyiq
is in tbe Chdstiaa amt 'JI~gical sense, and he is green ami grGWift:g
itt an evolatit!mary sense. Hence. by combininl the Gtll1l'lePt of time. as "nwmas clcles. we C8Jl arrive at a stataumt of the pl!lei!D. ~ern Hill .. is
p'hylogenetic rec::apitnlatiGR of.buman l'listory • an abstntet level. a reeapitulatwa fn~m the a~ of ew~ 2M Chtistiatlrity. Tbia is paradoxlsat Is Thomas 'beiDg pertbteftt by ,lw(ta~ ewlutin. &ad Chtitiamty 'l Is he ~ t1lem • bas he 8\lbtly sbown a prefereru!e fer cme • the other~? I tldak that Thomas is meitber bftpertineat, t10t ertbtinog tke Q!lnc!:epts, nor makiftg a ay&thesis, nor bas he shown a ]lleferaJla Rattler. I }ielieve tbat the ~ has shiJwn them in their ~ pmspeetive--joim!d together by ttme Cil!mtroUiag man attd maa's destitly. ·
This approac:h makes the reader more carefal in reading, abstractin& and evaluating the pgem. It makes the reader much ume CCittCioaa of
many sttbltle ~P of cmtcepts, and it pervades u.p:m the reader's
imagiftatiGn, makmg him semsitlve to the poetie. imagiUtion. By barring
tbe paraphraat, the imlceuaraey of persomal interpcoetatba · is SDmSWbat
ftldaGed. Witlatt applying this a~ the pclem woald beoome a simple stOry · abnt a boy"s enltant gloryiftg iB utural things or a story
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al!Rt a g1Grids ynq hoy oa a Welsh farm who fiDalty zeaUzes ift 1ms
later yaan wbtm he relates thiS stGry. tbat time held hla im its ''pup.
JUBLIQG,l~APHY
J. :B!moks. Cleaath: W~l WeJ!j! Up. Han~~~~tl't, t85tl.
2. Bnoks. CleaJlth au Wamm. R011ert Pesur. ~8!1!fiel Poota,
Heuy lblt ad ~. tlia.
4. Umtem.,m, Lcruia: A ~ 1'P!!i!7 Gf ~t Pal§._ Permaa
Books. tOSll.
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