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| Every Morning I Wake by Dylan Thomas Summary and Question Answer |
Summary
This poem is an extract from ‘Under the Milk Wood’, a radio play written for BBC by Dylan Thomas over a long period of time during the last month of his life. As Dylan was near to death, his religious conviction was strong and his attitude showed welfare of the humanity. In this poem the poet prays to the magnificent God to have mercy on ordinary inhabitants living under the Milk Wood (a wooded area in the hills above a Welsh seaside village of Llaggerub in Dylan Thomas’s play ‘Under the Milk Wood’.
The speaker of the poem seems to be quite a well wisher and prayer. He is a man of humanity. Every morning he wakes up, he prays to the Almighty and magnificent God to love and keep his bountiful eyes on the poor inhabitants of Milk Wood region living a very miserable life. He wishes his kindness to take care of those poor farmers to bless with comforts from their birth to death. Similarly, at every evening he prays for the mercy of the God to put on the inhabitants to protect them from any types of danger. He is quite unsure that the night may be his last night. So, he prays for the blessing of the God on the inhabitants’ favour.
The speaker says that we humans are not totally bad or totally good. We can be cruel or kind in the course of living our lives but it is the God who knows who we actually are. He is hopeful whether we have committed worst thing, our sins will be forgiven by the mercy of the God and the God only sees our best thing we have done for the sake of humanity. The speaker prays to bless at night to be protected and see each other the next morning. The night is symbolized as the complications and difficulties that are inevitable in the life of all human beings. So, the speaker prays to have mercy on human beings during their hardships so that new happiest morning of life will appear. The speaker concludes his prayers saying goodbye at night and hopes for the best morning i. e. comforts in life.
Reference to the Text
1. What is the theme of the poem ‘Every Morning I Wake’?
As the poet himself is a man of religious faith, he prays the Almighty and magnificent God to have mercy, bestow blessings and keep an eye of protection to the poor creatures (inhabitants) during their hardships. The life is the combinations of both happiness and hardships, sufferings and comforts. So, he prays for the protection of humanity during difficulties and sufferings.
2. Why does the speaker make a prayer to the God, but not the king or a millionaire or a scientist?
The God is known as the generator, operator and destroyer. It means the God is Omnipotent, Omniscient and Omnipresent. The speaker makes a prayer to the God because of the faith that the God is the most powerful than any other entity of the world. A king or a billionaire or a scientist is a man. They don’t have as much power as the God possess. They are made of bones and flesh and are mortal, but the God is infinite, shapeless and omnipresent. In comparison to the God, any powerful human is as powerful as the God. Therefor, the speaker makes a prayer to the God.
Also Read: A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings Story by Gabriel Garcia Marquez | Summary and Question Answer
3. How does the poet highlight the magnificence of the God?
He whole poem describes the magnificence of the God because the God is Almighty and bountiful. The presence of the God can be seen on everything of the world. The God has created every creature and protected with His mercy and blessings. The poet highlights the magnificence that every morning he prays to have mercy on all poor inhabitants and protect them on their hardships during their life. We can see the new morning because of the mercy of the God since we make prayers every night for a happy morning.
4. How does the rhyme scheme of the poem reinforce its message?
Rhyme refers to the similar tuning of the final consonant sounds in poems. Rhyme scheme is the ordered rhyming words at the end of each line of the poem. The rhyming structure of this poem is AABB that reinforces in its fine and attractive tuning. Since the rhyming scheme is attractive, the message of the poem is reinforcing.
5. Does the God exist? Give your opinion.
It is usually a debatable and controversial topic if God exists or not. It depends on the faith that governs the humans. The Theists believe that the existence of the God is on everything of the world but the God is infinite, formless. On the other hand, the atheists believe that there is not existence of the God. None has seen the physical presence of the God yet. In my opinion, the God exists. The God is the matter of faith and belief. It is related to our perception. It prevails on everything. Whatever things we find and if the things are beneficial to us, the internal belief asserts that there is the God. Without the presence of the God, nothing seems to be beneficial to us. The God is powerful, that is why we have the things which we can’t create. The nature is the best gift created by the God. If the God doesn’t exist, no such things are created by the control of the human.
About the Author:
Tanka Bhattarai is a Second class Secondary Level English teacher currently teaching at Shahid Smriti Secondary School, Dharan, Sunsari. He is also an MToT of Education Training Centre, Koshi Province.
