Youthful Nostalgia
... greatness (6-7). In Stanza two, we first see the word “green” that is repeated many times in this poem. This word is used as a metaphor for youthfulness. Thomas uses assonance to open the second stanza with the words “green and carefree” (10). Time is personified when Thomas asks it to let him remain young and naive, even though the sun “is young once only” (12). Thomas chooses to remain ignorant to the workings of time and the immortality of the world. The word “green” is repeated along with the word “golden”, both words stressing his youthfulness (15). Thomas uses alliteration to express his ability to be anything he wants whether it be a “huntsman or herdsman” (15). Stanza three describes nightfall on the farm. Again, the word “green” is used in line twenty-three to reiterate a carefree, simple ideal. Thomas uses the hay stacks as a metaphor for the boy’s youthful hope. The “hay fields high as the house” describes the boy’s optimism. Thomas’s description of the stars as being “simple” mirrors the poet’s ignorance of the world. Thomas is unaware of the tremendous complexity of the stars, not being able to grasp the immensity of the sky just as he is ignorant to the complexity of the world and of the process of time. In Stanza four, Thomas describes the morning on the farm as being a rebirth and a new beginning for everything. His describes this rebirth with alliterations choosing the words “wandering white with the dew” to continue with is theme of color to describe youth. Thomas compares the morning on the farm to the beginning of the world as written in the Bible in Genesis. Stanza five emphasizes the poet’s ignorance. He does not understand that his life is finite. He believes he will be born again every morning along with the sun. The hay stack metaphor is repeated to stress his naive outlook. Stanza six repeats his carefree attitude towards his own immortality. He cares so little about it that he does not take the time to understand it. As a grown man, Thomas can now see that all the while, time had been working it’s way even...