AN ANALYSIS of Language in the POETRY of Dylan THOMAS an ANALYSIS of Language in the POETRY of Dylan THOMAS
AN ANALYSIS OF lANGUAGE IN THE POETRY OF DYlAN THOMAS AN ANALYSIS OF lANGUAGE IN THE POETRY OF DYlAN THOMAS By GRAHAM REES, B.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the degree Master of Arts McMaster University ©Copyright by Graham Rees, August 1996 MASTER OF ARTS (1996) McMASTER UNIVERSITY (English) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: An Analysis of Language in the Poetry of Dylan Thomas AUTHOR: Graham Rees, B.A. (McMaster University) SUPERVISOR: Dr. H. John Ferns NUMBER OF PAGES: v, 88 ii ABSTRACT Dylan Thomas belongs to an exclusive group, the Anglo-Welsh poets, who, throughout most of English literary history, have either chosen or have been com pelled to write in English rather than in Welsh, a situation which offers someone interested in language analysis an opportunity to study its several implications. Perhaps, in the not too distant future, the way in which human beings think and learn a language will be satisfactorily determined. In what language does a bi-lingual person think? Does a human being think in words or pictures? What emotive value do words possess? Is there an on-going tension between the first language and the acquired language or languages, or, as in Thomas' case, the first family language which he could not speak fluently and the alien language which became his lingua franca? To what extent do the latent influences such as personal associations, family background, interests, ancestry, ultimately affect the nature of writing? At present, in the world of critical thought on these subjects, we are still "on a darkling plain" where "ignorant armies clash by night".
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