Analysis of In My Craft Or Sullen Art

Dylan Thomas 1914 (Swansea) – 1953 (Greenwich Village)



In my craft or sullen art
Exercised in the still night
When only the moon rages
And the lovers lie abed
With all their griefs in their arms,
I labour by singing light
Not for ambition or bread
Or the strut and trade of charms
On the ivory stages
But for the common wages
Of their most secret heart.
Not for the proud man apart
From the raging moon I write
On these spindrift pages
Nor for the towering dead
With their nightingales and psalms
But for the lovers, their arms
Round the griefs of the ages,
Who pay no praise or wages
Nor heed my craft or art.


Scheme ABCDEBDEFFAABFDGEFFA
Poetic Form Etheree  (20%)
Metre 0111101 100011 1100110 0010101 1111011 111101 1101011 1010111 1010010 1101010 111101 1101101 1010111 11110 1101001 11101 1101011 1011010 1111110 111111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 536
Words 109
Sentences 2
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 20
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 442
Words per stanza (avg) 109
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Submitted by acronimous on October 13, 2014

Modified on May 02, 2023

32 sec read
521

Dylan Thomas

Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "And death shall have no dominion", the "play for voices", Under Milk Wood, and stories and radio broadcasts such as A Child's Christmas in Wales and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog. He became popular in his lifetime and remained so after his premature death in New York. In his later life he acquired a reputation, which he encouraged, as a "roistering, drunken and doomed poet". more…

All Dylan Thomas poems | Dylan Thomas Books

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