Fern Hill

by Dylan Thomas, Murray Kimber (Illustrator)

Few poems of childhood contain such resonant opening lines as Dylan Thomas's Fern Hill. Here is the green and carefree world of a boy who delights in the possibilities of each day, of a child who wrings from every moment a feeling as intensely magical as it is profoundly innocent.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Literature

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Dylan Marlais Thomas (1914-1953) was a Welsh poet who wrote in English. Many regard him as one of the 20th century's most influential poets.

In addition to poetry, Thomas wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, with the latter frequently performed by Thomas himself. His public readings, particularly in America, won him great acclaim; his booming, at times, ostentatious voice, with a subtle Welsh lilt, became almost as famous as his works. His best-known work includes the "play for voices" Under Milk Wood and the celebrated villanelle for his dying father, "Do not go gentle into that good night." Appreciative critics have also noted the superb craftsmanship and compression of poems such as "In my craft or sullen art" and the rhapsodic lyricism of Fern Hill.

Reviews

[Nick Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently came across one of my favourite poems by Dylan Thomas on a poster at the Welsh Folk Life Museum and it made me want to revisit his poetry in more depth. These are works of absolute literary and social genius, reminding us of a time, and a place that few of us ever really knew. But don't take my word for it, just listen to Mr Thomas himself:

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 honoured 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.

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm in the middle of re reading Stephen King's Dark Tower series. I was delighted to run into Father Callahan (the character from Salem's lot) in the 5th dark tower book! Suddenly, out of nowhere, Callahan is described as singing in his chains like the sea.

It's been so long since I've read Fern Hill it might have been high school! I had to stop my audiobook and go find a copy. Every bit as beautiful as I remembered. Reading Dylan Thomas is always a magical experience even in the middle of the night at the prompting of Stephen King.

[John Yelverton · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a nice and cute little poem by the poet Dylan Thomas, but the ending is a little too sad for my tastes.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The dominant leitmotif of the poem is conceivably the retrieval of the lost Paradise on earth through the unqualified harmony between man and nature which is the sole pleasure of childhood. Though this poem was penned by Thomas in his mature age, it does not recount proceedings with the crestfallen, embittered eye of the adult. Quite the reverse, it is re-lived in by the boy Thomas, with all his uncontrolled fantasies, trances and desolate dreams of gaudy colour, with all his delighted sureness of being the lord of the world of nature. The voyage back to infancy on Time Machine brings to the poet's visualization 'the rivers of the windfall light'. He is united with nature and all its gorgeous exhibition -- the apple boughs, the green grass, the dingle under the sparkling canopy, daisies and barley. He is united with the young sun and even 'honoured among foxes and pheasants. The Farm itself becomes a part of unpolluted nature: 'the hay fields high as the house'; even the fire of the chimney is interconnected to the green grass and its loft full of owls at night is connected with the moon through the openings in the loft. Time, is the actual protagonist in this poem.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ripe with fragrances
Raw with emotions
Rich with colour
...
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 honoured 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 ..." etc ...

[Shakira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not his best piece of work in my opinion, but still a beautiful take on remembering childhood. He is seeing time as a lying friend, whom in childhood, time and the sun (which are one and the same) stood back and observed his innocence. But now time has imprisoned him to adulthood. And he can now see the shape of the sun and counts its hours, when it once only was a source of warmth and light, in his childhood days.

[Amelia Bujar · Rating 1 out of 5]

FULL REVIEW ON MY WEBSITE
https://thebookcornerchronicles.com/2...

Another poem which didn’t work well with me.

The writing style here was okay but nothing extraordinary and it didn’t fit in with the plot of this poem.

The plot of this pome wasn’t the best because it felt like the generic plot of every poem.

[Viviana · Rating 4 out of 5]

[audiobook]

[Rupali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lyrical poem resonant with beautiful imagery.

[kan]

i get him<3

[ally douglas? · Rating 5 out of 5]

nostalgia

[Val · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were a number of verses that were quite beautiful, but overall, very difficult to read poetry. Extremely dense wording.