Write a critical analysis of the Dylan Thomas poem, Fern Hil

Fern Hill appears to have a religious overtone by certain use of colours, expressions and symbols.

In the first four stanzas it is noticeable that the emphasis is on the goodness of Fern Hill and it all seems to be positive. When you are a child everything seems to be much bigger than what it actually is and children do say things are much bigger often by using some kind of simile. I feel the author thought about this and the inclusion of hyperbole does aid in the reader getting a sense of what it was to be that child. Another example in the third stanza, “hay fields high as the house,” this is a use of simile which represents the childs views and it is this use of hyperbole that gets the viewpoint of the child across. It is not until we reach the final stanzas where Thomas' mood begins to change and we are announced of his place in time, "green and dying". “Green and dying", we can regard this to mean although youth is essentially carefree as Thomas states in the first stanza, these things will come to an end. "Golden in the mercy of his means", is another example, we could portray this as meaning time is merciful or upon re-evaluation he is at the mercy of time. s poem does not have any specific rhyming scheme at all.

The author also uses the sun and moon as metaphorical time devices, in the fifth stanza it is said, “the sun born over and over” as an adult looking back on childhood the youthful days seem to have passed so quickly and the ‘sun born over and over’ refers to the new days that keep coming. Thomas also states “ all the sun long” and “all the moon long” again giving us childish ways of keeping notes on the time. For example, "green and golden" could suggest a sense of innocence in childhood and purity, but if we were to re-evaluate we could see that this could possibly suggest a possible sense of immaturity.