Words

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  • Created by: sarahrtx
  • Created on: 12-05-15 10:00
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  • Words (June 1915)
    • 'their joy or their pain'
      • personifying words - to Thomas they are as important as people
      • oxymoron - gives the words a full range of human emotions
        • the guardian claimed that the constant oxymorons in the poem give it poetic buoyancy.
    • 'choose me // you English words?'
      • the words have their own minds and can choose their poet.
      • by specifying that they are English Thomas shows himself as a patriotic war poet
      • questioning the words - they know more than him
    • 'you are light as dreams // tough as oak'
      • addressing the words directly.
      • oxymoron - words can have every quality the writer wants them to.
    • 'strange and sweet // equally'
      • oxymoron
      • enjambment
    • 'young as our streams//after rain'
      • pastoral nature - the circle of life
      • rain can bring life but also be destructive with great force
    • with some sweetness//from Wales
      • Thomas had Welsh heritage
      • not as sweet as English words
    • 'fixed and free'
      • oxymoron
      • alliteration of the f gives the statement a flowing feel - clear movement between being fixed and free
      • Thomas may be implying that he is fixed with being a poet and needing to sell his poetry but his poetry can be as free as he makes it
    • 'In a rhyme//as poets do'
      • referring directly to poets makes the poem personal to him and therefore allows the reader to feel personally connected to Thomas.
      • it's interesting that Thomas refers to rhymes given he often doesn't use rhymes in his poetry - is he implying that he isn't a true poet?

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