Death In Dylan Thomas’s Poem “A Refusal To Mourn The Death, By Fire, Of A Child In London”

Death in Dylan Thomas CDD: 808.1

DEATH IN DYLAN THOMAS’S POEM “A REFUSAL TO MOURN THE DEATH, BY FIRE, OF A CHILD IN LONDON” AND ITS RELATION TO THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION O TEMA DA MORTE NO POEMA “A REFUSAL TO MOURN THE DEATH, BY FIRE, OF A CHILD IN LONDON” E SUA RELAÇÃO COM A TRADIÇÃO CRISTÃ
Gladir da Silva Cabral1
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Autor para contato: Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense - UNESC,Departamento de Letras e Programa de Pós-graduação em Educação, Criciúma, SC, Brasil; (48) 4312663; e-mail: gla@unesc.net

Recebido para publicação em 25/10/2004 Aceito para publicação em 27/01/2005

ABSTRACT Dylan Thomas wrote several poems dealing with the problem of death. “A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London” is dedicated to a child, victim of bombardment in Londonduring World War II. The objective of this article is to analyse Dylan Thomas’s attitude towards death according to this poem, and to compare it to the view of death according to the Christian tradition. In “A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London,” the persona laments the absurdity of a child’s death and, contradictorily, refuses to lament this death as if his lament were aprofanation of its sacredness. Key words: war, death, grief, Christian tradition

RESUMO Dylan Thomas escreveu vários poemas tratando da morte. “A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London” é dedicado a uma criança, vítima dos bombardeios a Londres na Segunda Guerra Mundial. O objetivo deste artigo é analisar a atitude do poeta diante da morte, conforme se evidencia no poema, ecompará-la com a visão sobre a morte e o morrer segundo a tradição cristã. Em “A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London”, o poeta lamenta o absurdo da morte de uma criança e, contraditoriamente, rejeita lamentar essa morte, como se o lamento fosse uma profanação do caráter sagrado desse morrer. Palavras-chave: guerra, morte, luto, tradição cristã

Publ. UEPG Ci. Hum., Ci. Soc. Apl.,Ling., Letras e Artes, Ponta Grossa, 13 (2) 7-17, dez. 2005

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In the poetry of Dylan Thomas, the reality of death has a fundamental importance, becoming its most recurrent theme and concern. In his poetry it may be possible to identify his major attitudes and viewpoints about the reality of death. In these poems one can find not only his own experience and personal impressions about mortalitybut also some echoes of his cultural background, the Judeo-Christian tradition. Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea (Wales) on October 27, 1914, and lived always under the impression of a the proximity of death, with a clear consciousness of his own mortality. Considered by some critics as the most important English poet of his time, hailed by some of his first readers as the most prominent figure ofcontemporary English Literature, Dylan Thomas is one of the most passionate and complex poets of this century. He was exalted because of the exuberance of his rhetoric, his handling of language, the musicality of his poems, the originality of his images, his metaphors, and the mystic impression of his poetry. But he was also criticized because of the excessive concentration of his images,repetitive themes, the complexity of his syntax, taken by some critics as symptoms of superficiality and irresponsibility. Critics like Elder Olson, for example, considered Thomas’s poetry very difficult to understand, sometimes almost irrational, and lacking the necessary discipline. Others, like David Daiches, in spite of acknowledging the difficulty with the interpretation of Thomas’s poems and thelimited number of his themes, images, and phrases, recognize that Thomas’s poetry is “magnificent, as well as original in tone and technique, and that he was growing in poetic stature to the last” (24). Dylan Thomas’s poetry was marked by several influences in different moments of his life and on different levels. One can enumerate names like Blake, Freud, Jung, Joyce, Rimbaud, Kierkegaard, Donne,...