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DYLAN THOMAS: A JOURNEY FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT by Alphonsus M. Reddington

DYLAN THOMAS: A JOURNEY FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT

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Pub Date: Sept. 12th, 1968
Publisher: Newman

Another doctoral dissertation on Dylan Thomas, this one on the poet's journey from darkness to light through the vehicle of his poetry ("". . . the record of my individual struggle from darkness towards some measure of light""). The author devotes the first part of the book to an examination of the nature of the journey from death to life, sin to innocence, doubt to faith. The second part analyzes the journey itself, following the general critical opinion of Thomas' three distinct poetic periods. The conclusion: that Thomas ""did progress out of personal darkness to a light that was more than human""--i.e., that, out of his experience of human love, he was led to the experience of divine love. All in all, despite the soporific style so painstakingly cultivated in theses and dissertations, this book is not without interest for the student of literature, and even for the non-professional reader of serious literature.