Thomas I: ‘Myriad-Minded Lyric’

Abstract

This chapter is about the way Thomas’s individuality impresses itself on the movement and syntax of his poems. Through readings of blank verse poems including ‘Beauty’, ‘Old Man’, and ‘Rain’, it shows how Thomas’s writing explores as much as expresses his distinctive character. The later parts of the chapter explore the more understated sense of his own strangeness that emerges in Thomas’s later lyrics, including ‘Blenheim Oranges’ and ‘Early One Morning’.