Reshaping Mystical Geometry of ”Vision and Prayer” by Dylan Thomas as Its Possible Re-Interpretation

Abstract

Although Dylan Thomas and his poem ”Vision and Prayer” (1944) are usually not attributed to a specific kind of visual/concrete or ”shaped poetry,” his highly enigmatic and daring poetical articulation displays some interesting typographical features that can qualify him to be included in the label. It is a unique experiment of a kind mainly because of its two distinct geometric shapes, i.e. diamond and hourglass, within the two equal Parts, with six stanzas in each one of them. These shapes create a kind of “mystical geometry,” since they differ both in their pictorial presentation and the content matter. The paper tried to follow various attempts in English literature that might have served as a source of inspiration for Thomas in the works of George Herbert, Sir Thomas Browne, and W.B. Yeats. It also presents previous critical interpretations that revolved mainly around the themes of birth, death, and re-birth Resurrection of Jesus Christ, since religious imagery and poetic language seem to invite such an approach (Tindall, Burdette, Kidder, Bauer). However, a combination of Derridean deconstruction/restructuring and computer-assisted pictorial manipulation of the text produced yet an interesting experiment in analysis, having brought together all the stanzas into a ‘grand diamond’ shape. The newly reshaped version of the ‘poem’ opened up possibilities for interpretation while pointing out the central geometric shapes that emerged in the process.