19 pages • 38 minutes read
Dylan ThomasI See the Boys of Summer
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1939A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Humans are Agents of Destruction and Creation
Across the striking images and wording of the poem’s nine stanzas, particular emphasis is given to human beings’ power to both destroy and create. The opening stanzas of the first section depict boys moving through life and depleting resources. The boys drown, curdle, and sour, and they embrace negativity: “Of doubt and dark they feed their nerves; / The signal moon is zero in their voids” (11-12). Everywhere they go, the boys’ actions have a negative impact on their surroundings, casting them as forces of destruction. At the end of the section, the narrator foresees the boys will continue this trajectory, growing into meaningless men: “I see that from these boys shall men of nothing / Stature by seedy shifting, / Or lame the air with leaping from its heats;” (19-21). The boys will become unsteady men. They will worsen their surroundings, “lame” the air, as they always have. In the ninth stanza, Thomas reiterates the destruction that boys and men bring: “I see you boys of summer in your ruin. / Man in his maggot’s barren” (49-50). Repeatedly, Thomas associates humans, particularly males, with harsh verbs and negative images. As the boys grow, their journey leads them to ruin.
Humans bring destruction in “I see the boys of summer,” but also creation. The seventh stanza, in particular, shows that the boys’ destruction can be a creative act: “Pick the world’s ball of wave and froth / To choke the deserts with her tides, / And comb the county gardens for a wreath.” (40-42). Choking the desert with the tides of the ocean implies life will be brought to a barren landscape. The boys are also capable of combing, a gentler verb, and their journey through the garden to make a wreath implies the garden is being cared for and abundant. Often, the boys are agents of destruction, but they carry within them memories of idyllic summer days: “There from their hearts the dogdayed pulse / Of love and light bursts in their throats. / O see the pulse of summer in the ice.” (22-24). Love and light are within the boys, showing that although they destroy, they contain positive attributes within, connected to creation. Tonally, the poem ends contemplative and bittersweet: “We are the sons of flint and pitch. / O see the poles are kissing as they cross” (53-54). The boys are destined to go about their labor like their fathers, and the kissing poles is a tender final image. Humans bring destruction, but they also work and create, always moving back and forth between the two.
Life and Death are Cyclical and Interconnected
While images of decay appear regularly in the poem, Thomas depicts a world that moves in a circle, not a straight line toward oblivion. Images of life and death are interwoven, not excluded from one another. The boys stand in ruin, but they do so in summer, combining symbols of life and death. In the second section, the sixth stanza enhances the connection between life and death: “We are the dark derniers let us summon / Death from a summer woman, / A muscling life from lovers in their cramp” (31-33). Again, life and death continue to be shown as intertwined. The boys summon death, but also life.
The poem’s emphasis on seasons also creates a cyclical pattern. Summer, winter, and spring are all mentioned throughout the poem. Endlessly, one season leads into the next, and hints that each season exist in the others: “O see the pulse of summer in the ice.” (24). The pulse of summer in the ice shows that summer, a time of warmth and life, still exists during the cold. The seasons aren’t exclusive; traces of each continue to lie in wait before their time comes again. In “I see the boys of summer,” life and death are always connected, feeding off each other in an interconnected cycle.
Existence is Wonderous
Thomas utilizes striking word choices to create a sense of wonder in “I see the boys of summer.” Everything is active throughout the poem. The boys are in a constant state of movement, and the changing seasons also force nature to change and morph. Honey boils and sours. Light bursts from throats. The ocean is held, and the seabirds fall. The daily occurrences of everyday life, whether they be manmade or natural, are depicted in powerful and visceral ways, creating a sense of wonder.
Despite the poem’s fascination with death and destruction, Thomas depicts existence as being driven by curiosity. The boys, though they stumble into ruin, set out across the world with ambition. They want to see and touch the natural world, which Thomas paints in evocative and detailed images. They work fields and harvest; their lives might lead to ruin, but they are still full of promise and carry light within them. The boys don’t go through life sad and forlorn, but with a sense of wonder for life, enhanced by Thomas’s creative and emotional writing.
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