Symbol Analysis
Well, you knew this was coming. In addition to the power to create and sustain life, the force has some pretty wicked destructive powers. Some of the death and destruction imagery is pretty direct. At other times it's subtler. (Er, can destruction be subtle?) Either way, it's there and it takes many different, sometimes surprising forms.
- Lines 1-3: The first line of this one sounds pretty upbeat and energetic, right? Well, yes. But there's some underlying destruction imagery that lets us know this isn't just going to be a poem about flowers.
It's that "fuse" in line 1. Most people are going to associate the word "fuse" with some kind of detonation or explosive device. Thomas wanted to give us a hint of the destruction to come. And just in case you missed the whole "fuse" thing, Thomas throws in "blast" and "destroyer" to drive the destruction point home. - Lines 4-5, 22: Imagine yourself old. Not 40—that's not old. We mean really old, like 90. How do you look? You've probably got some wrinkles, depending on how you feel about "elective surgery," and you are probably not standing as tall as you are now. Old age tends to make people bend and stoop. Thomas uses words like "crooked" and "bent" to reinforce the sense of aging in the poem. It helps us to visualize the impact of time on things like the flower and the speaker. "Crooked" is even the very last descriptive word in the poem. Thomas really wanted to leave us contemplating the ravages of old age and death. Gee thanks, Dylan.
- Lines 5, 12, 19: Seasons have traditionally had, for pretty obvious reasons, their own life cycle associations. Things bud and bloom in the springtime (life, youth, fertility) and the landscape becomes pretty barren in the winter (death). Basically, warm = life and cold = death. It comes as no surprise that Thomas uses some winter imagery in this poem: "wintry fever," "blowing wind," "weather's wind"—you get the picture: brrrrrr. By incorporating some winter imagery, Thomas adds another layer (it's always a good idea to layer) of contrast for those more spring-y images and symbols (flowers, green, mountain streams) to play against.
- Lines 7-8, 10, 16: Throughout the poem, lots of stuff dries up. Sometimes dry is good, but most of the time it's bad: dry skin, dry toast—you get the idea. In "The Force…," wetness tends to symbolize life and dry is usually equated with death. Let's take a look at some examples:
- The force dries up a stream. Water and rivers are usually strong, life and vitality symbols. The force is destroying and drying up vitality.
- Blood is liquid and certainly necessary for life. In the poem, the force dries that up, too ("Turns mine to wax")—not good.
- A mountain spring is a nice, vital image. Too bad "time" is there sucking it dry. What happens when vitality is all dried up? You're dead.
- A fountain, much like the mountain spring is a watery, vital image. Here again, that greedy force (time) is leeching it dry.
- That's a lot of info, so let us sum it up: Wet = life: dry = death.Got it? Good. Now, go hydrate.