- It is the poet’s thirtieth birthday. Time is very early morning. The poet is awakened and perceives everything around him as holy. The town is yet asleep, but he has all around him the world of nature with loveliness and holiness that make the beginning of his day all wonderful. [Stanza 1]
- It seems to the poet that the birds are flying high in the sky, the sea birds as also land birds, uttering his name on the occasion. The poet advances and crosses the gates of the town, and as he does So, nature seems to be all alive and all holy.[Stanza2]
- Soon the poet reaches the hill and has a confused sensation of the weather and the time there. ‘The weather on the hill is bright and sunlit, but below in the valley, there are rains, mists, and fogs. The impression of the entire situation causes a sensation and leads him to a mixed feeling of joy and memory. [Stanza 3]
- The poet sees below from his hight on the hill, the rainfall on the land. He also sees the sea with the mists and the storm spread here and there. There is a turn in the situation as he reaches the hill and looks back and pines for what he has missed [Stanza 4]
- The poet is now reminded of his boyhood sensation on a similar occasion amid the loveliness of nature. He recalls how he wondered and marvelled as a boy amid nature’s plenty and beauty. Legends, parables, fictitious tales were all real then as the objects of mystery and wonder. He sees around him once again nature in her majestic and finds all spelled under hèr. He even feels inspired to write on this and he is quite assertive of his success in the matter. [Stanza 5]
- The poet’s boyhood communication with nature seemed to cease altogether. His boyhood fancy, his sense of wonder and his thrill of mystery are all over. The boy in him is lost. [Stanza 6]
- But the poet’s marvellous sensation of his birthday does not subsist long. The weather turns around and he is brought back to the harsh reality of the inclement weather. No doubt he still enjoys the light and the warmth of the hill. But he remains aware that behind him lies the harsh reality of the present. His dream hill of childhood persists in his mind, but this is haunted with decay and degeneration so inevitable in nature. The only thing that is left to him for prayer is the retention of his spirit of this birthday to the next. [Stanza 7]
Summary and Analysis of Dylan Thomas’s “Poem in October”
