Dylan Thomas
Light breaks where no sun shines
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The Times of Thomas
Dylan vs Dylan
Ears in the Turrets Hear
Talk About Thomas
A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London
Light breaks where no sun shines
My Hero Bares His Nerves
The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
What Made Him Known
Bibliography
Hunchback
Do Not Go Gentle
Other Famous Works and Readings

Marxist lens 

		Light breaks where no sun shines;
                                    Where no sea runs, the waters of the heart
                                    Push in their tides;
                                    And, broken ghosts with glow-worms in their heads,
                                    The things of light
                                    File through the flesh where no flesh decks the bones.
                                    
                                    A candle in the thighs
                                    Warms youth and seed and burns the seeds of age;
                                    Where no seed stirs,
                                    The fruit of man unwrinkles in the stars,
                                    Bright as a fig;
                                    Where no wax is, the candle shows its hairs.
                                    
                                    Dawn breaks behind the eyes;
                                    From poles of skull and toe the windy blood
                                    Slides like a sea;
                                    Nor fenced, nor staked, the gushers of the sky
                                    Spout to the rod
                                    Divining in a smile the oil of tears.
                                    
                                    Night in the sockets rounds,
                                    Like some pitch moon, the limit of the globes;
                                    Day lights the bone;
                                    Where no cold is, the skinning gales unpin
                                    The winter's robes;
                                    The film of spring is hanging from the lids. 
                                    
                                    
                                    Light breaks on secret lots, 
                                    On tips of thought where thoughts smell in the rain;
                                    When logics dies,
                                    The secret of the soil grows through the eye,
                                    And blood jumps in the sun;
                                    Above the waste allotments the dawn halts.

This poem, when seen through a Marxist lens is very degrading to any family, group, or social class that is not in the upper class. Many people have a misunderstanding of what Marxism truly is because although the word Marxism gets tossed around frequently, the political and economical teachings of Karl Marx never accompany it. Most Marxist's would agree that the main idea is about ridding the world of social class struggles and the oppression of the lower class by the more carefree wealthy. The wealthier would like to have a world where the more material processions a person has or the caliber of people they are associated with defines who they are and what they can do. 

As you read through this poem you begin to see the sexual references Dylan is using with his ever-clever use of imagery and sound (mostly being alliteration). Sexual intercourse although something that is not limited to a social class is something that having lots of money would make much easier. While the wealthy are out indulging themselves, the lower class would have to work just to make ends meat meaning most time in the factory and less time in the sheets. This poem does not stop their however because it then goes on to reference an older men having sex with a younger women. This is something that is not common unless money is present. the evidence of this can be seen in the second stanza in which it says, 

A candle in the thighs

Warm  youth and seed and burns the seeds of age; 

Where no seed stirs,

The fruit of man unwrinkles in the stars,

Bright as a fig;

Where no wax is, the candle shows its hairs.

This stanza can be interpreted as an older man who has problems producing "wax" having vaginal intercourse with an young woman. This again degrades the lower class by showing us possibilities that the lower class does not have based off of their economic standing. This poem changes however and the last two stanzas begin a new topic of the after world. Although faith is something that is open to all social classes the option of disregarding other duties to spend lots of time towards faith is not always available. Many people, especially in the lower class, have to spend their day's toiling at jobs they don't like or watching their kids because they do not have the money to pay someone else to watch them. Being that these humanly tasks come first it very much limits their free time and ability to attend spiritual services. As you can see by reading this poem it sounds like a lovely idea and mindset to be in, but as far as being open to the public it clearly downplays the abilities and options of the poor people.


A record of his struggle from darkness to some measure of light