Fern Hill Flashcards
(27 cards)
The Innocence and Joy of Childhood
Explanation:
The poem celebrates the unselfconscious happiness of youth, where the world feels magical and timeless. The child perceives himself as a “prince” in a pastoral paradise, free from adult worries.
Key Lines & Analysis:
“Happy as the grass was green” (Stanza 1):
→ Simile equating joy with nature’s vibrancy; innocence is as natural as grass.
“I was prince of the apple towns” (Stanza 1):
→ Grandiose self-image reflects a child’s unfettered imagination.
“All the sun long it was running, it was lovely” (Stanza 3):
→ Anaphora (“it was”) emphasizes endless, carefree days.
Why It Matters:
Thomas contrasts this bliss with adulthood’s burdens, making the loss more poignant.
The Illusion of Timelessness
Explanation:
The child believes time is static (“once below a time”), but the poem reveals time’s inevitable progression. Initially, Time is a playful ally (“let me hail and climb”), later a tyrant (“held me green and dying”).
Key Lines & Analysis:
“Time let me play and be / Golden in the mercy of his means” (Stanza 2):
→ Time “allows” joy but controls its limits.
“In the sun that is young once only” (Stanza 2):
→ Youth is fleeting; the sun’s “youth” mirrors the child’s.
“Nothing I cared… that time would take me” (Stanza 6):
→ Childish ignorance vs. adult hindsight.
Why It Matters:
The poem critiques humanity’s futile wish to stop time, echoing Romanticism’s preoccupation with mortality.
The Loss of Edenic Innocence
The Loss of Edenic Innocence
Explanation:
Fern Hill parallels the Garden of Eden. The child’s fall into awareness mirrors Adam’s exile, marked by biblical imagery (e.g., “Adam and maiden,” “fields of praise”).
Key Lines & Analysis:
“Shining, it was Adam and maiden” (Stanza 4):
→ Direct allusion to Eden before the Fall.
“Follow him out of grace” (Stanza 5):
→ “Grace” implies a spiritual fall from innocence.
“Wake to the farm forever fled” (Stanza 6):
→ The adult is exiled from childhood’s paradise.
Why It Matters:
The theme universalizes personal memory, framing growth as both beautiful and tragic
Nature as a Sacred Space
Explanation:
The farm is a divine sanctuary where even animals (“calves,” “foxes”) and elements (“holy streams”) seem to worship. Nature is animate and participatory.
Key Lines & Analysis:
“The sabbath rang slowly / In the pebbles of the holy streams” (Stanza 2):
→ Nature observes the Sabbath; pebbles become sacred.
“Fields of praise” (Stanza 4):
→ Landscape actively glorifies creation.
“Fire green as grass” (Stanza 3):
→ Surreal imagery blurs boundaries between elements, suggesting a child’s enchanted worldview.
Why It Matters:
Thomas merges the pastoral with the spiritual, elevating childhood memory to a mythic plane
The Paradox of Joy and Mortality
Explanation:
Even in its lament, the poem finds beauty in transience. The speaker “sang in [his] chains,” suggesting art and memory defy time’s ravages.
Key Lines & Analysis:
“Time held me green and dying” (Stanza 6):
→ Oxymoron: Youth (“green”) contains death (“dying”).
“Though I sang in my chains like the sea” (Stanza 6):
→ Simile compares the speaker to the eternal, rhythmic sea—bound yet boundless.
Why It Matters:
The ending resolves the tension between joy and loss, offering a model for embracing life’s fleetingness.
Personification
Examples & Effects:
Time as a Benevolent Ruler:
“Time let me hail and climb” (Stanza 1)
→ Time is portrayed as a permissive guardian, allowing the child freedom.
“Time held me green and dying” (Stanza 6)
→ Later, Time becomes a captor, emphasizing mortality.
Nature as Alive:
“The lilting house” (Stanza 1)
→ The house “sings,” giving it a joyful, animated quality.
“The sabbath rang slowly in the pebbles” (Stanza 2)
→ Even stones participate in worship, suggesting a sacred world.
Why It Matters:
Personification blurs the line between the child’s imagination and reality, making Fern Hill feel enchanted.
Alliteration & Assonance
Examples & Effects:
“Fields high as the house” (Stanza 3)
→ The repeated “h” mimics breathless excitement.
“Trail with daisies and barley” (Stanza 1)
→ Soft “d” and “b” sounds create a flowing, musical rhythm.
“Singing as the farm was home” (Stanza 2)
→ The “s” and “f” sounds evoke a gentle, humming quality.
Why It Matters:
These devices enhance the poem’s lyrical, songlike quality, mirroring a child’s unfiltered joy.
Simile & Metaphor
Examples & Effects:
“Happy as the grass was green” (Stanza 1)
→ Simile equates joy with nature’s unchanging beauty.
“Fire green as grass” (Stanza 3)
→ Surreal, dreamlike imagery; blurs elements (fire/grass).
“Prince of the apple towns” (Stanza 1)
→ Metaphor elevates the child to royalty, emphasizing his imaginative world.
Why It Matters:
Similes and metaphors deepen the poem’s sensory richness, making memories feel vivid and magical.
Biblical & Mythological Allusion
Examples & Effects:
“Adam and maiden” (Stanza 4)
→ Direct allusion to Eden, framing childhood as a paradise before the Fall.
“Fields of praise” (Stanza 4)
→ Suggests the natural world worships God, adding sacredness.
“Follow him out of grace” (Stanza 5)
→ Echoes Adam’s exile, symbolizing lost innocence.
Why It Matters:
These allusions elevate the poem from personal nostalgia to a universal meditation on innocence and expulsion
Enjambment & Flow
Examples & Effects:
“All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay / Fields high as the house” (Stanza 3)
→ The lack of pause mimics the endless, breathless days of childhood.
“Time let me play and be / Golden in the mercy of his means” (Stanza 2)
→ The flow between lines suggests Time’s generosity before the eventual shift to control.
Why It Matters:
Enjambment creates a rushing, immersive rhythm, mirroring the child’s unchecked energy.
Color Symbolism
Examples & Effects:
“Green and golden” (Recurring)
→ Green = life, vitality (“green and carefree”).
→ Golden = fleeting perfection (“Golden in the mercy of his means”).
“Lamb white days” (Stanza 6)
→ White = purity, innocence (like sacrificial lambs).
Why It Matters:
Colors reinforce the poem’s contrast between youthful vibrancy and inevitable decay.
Paradox & Oxymoron
Examples & Effects:
“Time held me green and dying” (Stanza 6)
→ Youth (“green”) contains death (“dying”).
“Sang in my chains like the sea” (Stanza 6)
→ Chains imply bondage, yet singing suggests freedom.
Why It Matters:
These devices capture the poem’s central tension—joy and mortality are inseparable.
Fern Hill (The Farm)
Symbolism:
Represents childhood innocence, a paradise lost (like the Garden of Eden).
A place of timeless joy before the awareness of mortality sets in.
Key Lines & Analysis:
“About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green” (Stanza 1)
→ The farm is alive (“lilting”), full of joy and natural beauty.
“Wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land” (Stanza 6)
→ The adult speaker realizes the farm (childhood) is gone forever.
Why It Matters:
The farm symbolizes a vanished world of purity, much like Eden after the Fall
Colors (Green, Golden, White)
Symbolism:
Green → Youth, vitality, nature’s abundance.
Golden → Perfection, fleeting moments of happiness.
White → Purity, innocence (often associated with lambs and biblical imagery).
Key Lines & Analysis:
“Happy as the grass was green” (Stanza 1)
→ Green = natural, unspoiled joy.
“Golden in the mercy of his means” (Stanza 2)
→ Golden = a blessed, almost divine state of being.
“Lamb white days” (Stanza 6)
→ White = innocence, like a sacrificial lamb (hinting at lost purity).
Why It Matters:
Colors track the shift from vibrancy to decay, reinforcing the poem’s themes of time and loss.
Time (Personified as a Godlike Figure)
Symbolism:
Time is both a giver (allowing joy) and a taker (bringing mortality).
Represents inevitability—the child cannot escape growing up.
Key Lines & Analysis:
“Time let me hail and climb” (Stanza 1)
→ Time permits the child’s joy (benevolent).
“Time held me green and dying” (Stanza 6)
→ Time now holds the speaker in a state of dying (oppressive).
Why It Matters:
Time symbolizes fate—it grants happiness but always demands a price
The Apple Trees & Orchards
Symbolism:
Reference to the Garden of Eden (the “apple” as forbidden fruit).
Represents temptation, knowledge, and eventual fall from innocence.
Key Lines & Analysis:
“Under the apple boughs” (Stanza 1)
→ A peaceful, Edenic setting.
“Prince of the apple towns” (Stanza 1)
→ The child rules this paradise, unaware of future loss.
Why It Matters:
The apples subtly foreshadow the loss of innocence, much like Adam and Eve’s expulsion
Animals (Calves, Foxes, Lambs, Swallows)
Symbolism:
Lambs → Innocence, sacrifice (Christian symbolism).
Swallows → Freedom, but also migration (change, passage of time).
Calves & Foxes → Harmony with nature (childhood’s untamed joy).
Key Lines & Analysis:
“The calves sang to my horn” (Stanza 2)
→ Animals obey the child, reinforcing his imagined royalty.
“Up to the swallow thronged loft” (Stanza 6)
→ Swallows suggest transition—moving to adulthood.
Why It Matters:
Animals reflect the child’s connection to nature, which is lost with time.
The Sea
Symbolism:
Represents eternity, cyclical nature of life.
The speaker is “chained” by time but still sings—like the sea’s endless motion.
Key Line & Analysis:
“Though I sang in my chains like the sea” (Stanza 6)
→ Despite mortality (“chains”), the speaker finds beauty, like the eternal sea.
Why It Matters:
The sea symbolizes resilience—even in bondage, joy persists.
Tone shift
Dylan Thomas’s Fern Hill undergoes a gradual but powerful shift in tone, moving from joyful nostalgia to melancholic reflection as the speaker transitions from childhood innocence to adult awareness of mortality
Stanza 1-3: Euphoric, Carefree Tone
Key Features:
Celebratory language (“happy as the grass was green,” “prince of the apple towns”).
Vibrant imagery (golden light, singing animals, running through fields).
Personification of Time as benevolent (“Time let me hail and climb”).
Example Lines & Analysis:
“All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay” (Stanza 3)
→ Anaphora (“it was”) creates a breathless, excited rhythm.
“And fire green as grass” (Stanza 3)
→ Surreal, dreamlike imagery reinforces the child’s enchanted worldview.
Why It Matters:
The opening stanzas immerse the reader in unfiltered joy, mimicking the child’s perception of a timeless world.
Stanza 4-5: Subtle Unease & Biblical Foreboding
Key Features:
Introduction of religious imagery (“Adam and maiden,” “fields of praise”).
Hints of impermanence (“the sun grew round that very day”).
Time’s control tightens (“Time let me play and be / Golden in the mercy of his means”).
Example Lines & Analysis:
“Shining, it was Adam and maiden” (Stanza 4)
→ Allusion to Eden foreshadows the fall from innocence.
“Before the children green and golden / Follow him out of grace” (Stanza 5)
→ “Out of grace” suggests expulsion, like Adam and Eve.
Why It Matters:
The tone begins to darken subtly, blending joy with a sense of inevitable loss.
Stanza 6: Melancholic Acceptance
Key Features:
Direct confrontation with mortality (“Time held me green and dying”).
Loss of the farm/paradise (“wake to the farm forever fled”).
Paradoxical resilience (“sang in my chains like the sea”).
Example Lines & Analysis:
“Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would take me” (Stanza 6)
→ The child’s ignorance contrasts with the adult’s painful awareness.
“Though I sang in my chains like the sea” (Stanza 6)
→ The sea’s eternal song symbolizes beauty persisting despite bondage.
Why It Matters:
The final stanza resolves the tension between joy and mortality, ending on a note of bittersweet acceptance.
Why the Tone Shift Matters
Mimics the Human Experience: The poem mirrors how memory idealizes childhood, while adulthood brings awareness of time’s passage.
Structural Genius: The shift mirrors the fall from Eden—innocence, temptation (awareness), and expulsion (acceptance).
Emotional Impact: The contrast between joy and sorrow makes the ending more poignant.
Rhyme Scheme
Rhyme Scheme
Irregular, but Intentional: Thomas uses slant rhyme (near-matches) and internal rhyme to create musicality without rigid structure.
Example from Stanza 1:
“Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs / About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green”
→ Boughs/green = slant rhyme (vowel sounds echo).
Later Stanzas: More full rhymes (“white/light,” “take me/sea”) appear, adding finality as the poem darkens.
Why It Matters
Rhyme → Slant rhymes early on suggest imperfect, fleeting joy, while full rhymes later signal acceptance of time’s rule.
