Childhood Reminiscences in William Wordsworth's and Dylan Thomas's Poetry: A comparative Study

Abstract

This dissertation makes clear the attitude of William Wordsworth and Dylan Thomas in the treatment of their childhood focusing on some of the poems of both poets. The main objective of this study is to show how Wordsworth and Thomas look back at their childhood in their poetry. Beautiful and familiar landscapes, incidents and experiences become the object around which their nostalgic feelings evolve. Wordsworth and Thomas idealize their past experiences in their poems through literary reminiscences. The charming and glorious days of childhood are recalled and contrasted with darker and sinister world of the adult. But attitude in the treatment of childhood is different in those two poets. Wordsworth is not so much pessimistic because he has not yet been disillusioned so he reconciles the loss of childhood splendor with philosophical vision but Dylan Thomas does not see any possibility of compensating childhood vision in adult life. His main focus is not on the pain of knowledge but on the bliss of innocence.