Fern Hill Analysis

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The poem “Fern Hill” by Dylan Thomas retells a story of a joyous child on a paradise described farm. Its title suggests a connection with nature to the text as the diction meaning for a fern hill, is a plant. The piece is written in six stanzas, nine lines each, is filled with strong messages and meaning throughout. The use of religious allusions can further propose a spiritual background for the speaker. As well, the poem is written with many poetic devices that reveals a strong idea of time within the poem. These fragments together create the concept of “time waiting on no one” as the main impression.
To start with, “Fern Hill” consists of many themes with the use of diction and connation throughout each stanza in the poem. A happy childhood was one of the obvious themes as the speaker describes his youth like a prize. For example, he begins with, “[…]I was young and easy under the apple boughs[...]” (Thomas 1). The diction of the words clearly shows he is describing his experiences as a young child. Likewise, in the first stanza he says, “About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green” (2). This clearly suggests the speaker spent time in a lilting house as a child, but as well the diction of the word “lilting” means to be cheerful and buoyant. Basically meaning the speaker is explaining his wonderful childhood.
The poem overall was positive and uplifting; the speaker even uses the scenery of the farm around him to help express his joy as a youth when he explains “… I was green and carefree, famous among the barns/ about the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,” (10-11). The use of “happy yard” shows one of the many times the speaker combines nature with the emotion of happiness together to pr...

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...ixth stanza that the speaker’s view changes dramatically. He explains, “Oh I was young and easy in the mercy of [time] means” (52). The use of the word “oh” shows the upset of the speaker when realizing his days as a youth would come to an end and he has grown up. The entire quote shows how time went from being his friend to something that took advantage of him by taking away his infancy. This poem essentially screams the overall message of time waiting on no one.
As a final point, the poem “Fern Hill” clearly shows the main message of “time not lasting forever.” The use of devices such as, allusions to religions to create a heaven like atmosphere easily portrayed themes which allowed for a better understanding of the speaker’s perception and how concept of time played a key role.

Works Cited

Thomas, Dylan. Fern Hill. London: Phoenix, 1996. Print.

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