Summary of Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines by Dylan Thomas

Dylan Thomas was an English poet and writer who had written some brilliant poems in his life-time. He had written some poems which had made him a star in the world of literature. The poem “Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines” was his first published poem which caught an eye in the literary world, and established him as a poet. Here, I am going to analyse this very poem:

Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines

Light breaks where no sun shines;
Where no sea runs, the waters of the heart
Push in their tides;
And, broken ghosts with glow-worms in their heads,
The things of light
File through the flesh where no flesh decks the bones.

In these lines, the poet is trying to say that we see the light breaking only in those places which are surrounded by darkness. The water is pushed only in those places where the sea is not present, which means, that the water can fill a land which is dry.
In other words, poet is using “light” and “water” as a metaphor to hope and faith. The poet is trying to tell that hope breaks in only those times when a person has lost all his hope in the difficult times that he is in. The poet says that “light” breaks in only where there is no light, there is no hope in the heart of people, and water pushed in their tides, which means, it helps the person keep going only when he has given up. The sentence, “And, broken ghosts with glow-worms in their heads,” means that in the difficult times, when the mind of a person is filled with something wrong, a small ray of hope and goodness flickers in them. Hope and faith have the potential to fill life in someone when the person has lost hope from life and living.

A candle in the thighs
Warms youth and seed and burns the seeds of age;
Where no seed stirs,
The fruit of man unwrinkles in the stars,
Bright as a fig;
Where no wax is, the candle shows its hairs.

In these lines, the poet is trying to describe how life of a man proceeds through time. He uses candle as a metaphor for life and ageing. The lines, “A candle in the thighs, Warms youth and seed and burns the seeds of age” means that time passes by and ages us; we reach our youth, and get older with time, and bring up our next generation. The “seeds” is symbolic to his fate that he reaps with his deeds in present. The poet says that the fate of a man is already written in the stars, which unfolds with time. The candle burns with time, and this candle has hair instead of wax, which grows silver as it keeps burning.

Dawn breaks behind the eyes;
From poles of skull and toe the windy blood
Slides like a sea;
Nor fenced, nor staked, the gushers of the sky
Spout to the rod
Divining in a smile the oil of tears.

In these lines, the poet is trying to tell that when a ray of hope breaks in the mind of a person, it brings the entire body to life, and gushes blood in the entire body. And the person experiences a smile which comes with tears, and brings a sense of divinity and thankfulness in the man. This divinity cannot be stopped by anything in the world, or any powers in the sky.

Night in the sockets rounds,
Like some pitch moon, the limit of the globes;
Day lights the bone;
Where no cold is, the skinning gales unpin
The winter’s robes;
The film of spring is hanging from the lids.

The poet is trying to express that difficult times are inevitable in life, but are only for times in our life, and are very limited when compared to the happy and joyful times in our life. The poet is saying that when your eyes are tired of looking for a single ray of hope through the dark times, the “light” rejuvenates your body, and brings warmth in your emotions. This hope is like heat of sun in a cold winter. The poet is trying to tell that hope comes as a life-saver which brings joy in our heart and helps us keep moving forward.

Light breaks on secret lots,
On tips of thought where thoughts smell in the rain;
When logics die,
The secret of the soil grows through the eye,
And blood jumps in the sun;
Above the waste allotments the dawn halts.

The poet is trying to say that when God shows mercy, there is no logic that works to help us understand how it happened and why it has happened. Hope comes to us in secrecy, where a person can understand only when he is experiencing it. And when he experiences it, it is no similar to any other feeling in the world.

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