MOD B Analysis: Under Milkwood PDF

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Study notes for Under Milkwood by Dylan Thomas. For HSC English Advanced Students...

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Under Milk Wood By Dylan Thomas Rubric In this module, students develop detailed analytical and critical knowledge, understanding and appreciation of a substantial literary text. Through increasingly informed and personal responses to the text in its entirety, students understand the distinctive qualities of the text, notions of textual integrity and significance. Students study one prescribed text. Central to this study is the close analysis of the text’s construction, content and language to develop students’ own rich interpretation of the text, basing their judgements on detailed evidence drawn from their research and reading. In doing so, they evaluate notions of context with regard to the text’s composition and reception; investigate and evaluate the perspectives of others; and explore the ideas in the text, further strengthening their informed personal perspective. Students have opportunities to appreciate and express views about the aesthetic and imaginative aspects of the text by composing creative and critical texts of their own. Through reading, viewing or listening they critically analyse, evaluate and comment on the text’s specific language features and form. They express complex ideas precisely and cohesively using appropriate register, structure and modality. They draft, appraise and refine their own texts, applying the conventions of syntax, spelling and grammar appropriately. Opportunities for students to engage deeply with the text as a responder and composer further develops personal and intellectual connections with the text, enabling them to express their considered perspective of its value and meaning. •

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‘students’ own rich interpretation’ o For a rich interpretation ֍ Students must understand there are multiple possible ways to interpret the text ֍ Students must be familiar with the thoughts of critics ֍ Students must be centred on a personal appreciation of the text ֍ Students must be aware of the criteria being used to making judgements of significance ‘context of reception’ o Be aware UMW has been received in multiple ways o Take a reading lens, which has its own criteria to judge significance

Significance Possible Significance Arguments • Significance arguments include o The way that a text innovates on the conventions of its form o The way that a text aims to critique, reflect or endorse ideas and events in the culture that it emerges from o The way that a text offers a lasting commentary on an important idea o The way that a text explores a previously underappreciated perspective or concept o The way that a text stands apart from its culture, perhaps as a forerunner of future ideas o The way that a text displays artistry and skill in the craft of language o The way that a text champions a new aesthetic vision (or in this case revives an old aesthetic vision in response to the needs of a new historical moment) o The way that a text creates a lasting impression on an individual (ie. you) either in evoking emotions, getting you to reconsider something or to see the world in a new way Literary Value Arguments • Literary value is traditionally seen to reside in texts that o Have the function of reflecting or shaping society o Are ‘elevating’ or ‘civilising’ in their promotion of aesthetic and moral values o Seem to be original and arise from an individual genius o Make assumptions about universality o Form a repository of cultural capital as a bulwark against erosion by populism o Different ways of valuing texts reflect and imply different ways of reading Different Ways of Reading Reading Frames When you use a reading frame, make it explicit which one you used, assert their criteria by saying what they valued and then evidence how this thing they value is in the text. Author Centred • A historical and contextual approach that seeks to understand a text in terms of how it emerges from the mind of the author and the context of their life and times • Structuralism o Studying how the text conforms to and breaks genre conventions or structures of archetypal texts like mythology Text Centred • New Criticism is structuralism at a deeper level, close reading to see structure at the level of language • Close critical reading that views the text as a self-contained aesthetic object that does not use context to explain meaning Reader Centred • Reception theory • How people interpret and understand literature • Opposes structuralism, considers the meaning of words separate from the word as what something means in decided by the reader • Emphasises the personal interpretation of readers • De-emphasises role of author’s context and what they intended • Effect on the reader is what’s important World-Context Centred • We should examine texts for the way in which they endorse, reflect or criticise the attitudes of different groups in society and power structures • Texts are valuable for revealing ‘conflict’ in society of a particular type (political, economic, religious, moral, etc)

Construction UMW is hard to define in regards to form, it can be considered both a drama (and yet it has no typical denouement structure or dramatic actions) and also poetry. Pastoral/Idyll • Both poetry and drama have a long tradition of exploring the concept of the pastoral Concerns of the Pastoral Genre • Consideration of the differences between rural and city life o Pastoral texts consider the best way to live life, so the role of human memory, nostalgia and the question of ethics turn up o Simple life of the rural idyll shows nostalgia for ways of life that are outdated o Pining for the past is also the pursuit of memory and childhood, simpler times • Consideration of the idea and pursuit of love o Pastoral texts have historically focused on love, marriage and procreation o SIGNIFICANCE ALERT: The way a text innovates on the conventions of its form ֍ Thomas presents many forms of love, including idealised and erotic love, and does not condemn them, any judgement of the types of love (towards Polly Garter or any other character) is done by the reader • Pastoral as an Offering to God o The pastoral genre was a performance intended to honour agricultural deities o The text can be argued to be an offering God (Thomas lived in a Christian time) through Eli Jenkins’ prayers, but since the Reverend’s verse is parodied, this is hard Pageant Play Three Ways the Pageant Play helps explain UMW • Pageant plays are a segment of a large work, which helps define UMW’s lack of a plot or forward movement in time, including why Thomas focuses on individual moments rather than action towards a climax • Pageant plays are often elaborate and decorative, which helps support the idea UMW celebrates Llareggub, rather than criticises it • In Medieval mystery plays, the pageant was what the movable stage was called, which can be used to support the idea the play is really about the setting, rather than the action Radio Play • The play is primarily an audible text, so the need for characterisation to occur through dialogue and the use of accent and inflection is important • The idiosyncrasies of the voices of the cast are essential to understanding the play • Thomas himself never heard any of the recordings of UMW, so what he thought is unknown

Content Plot •

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UMW was originally going to have a plot about an inspector from London who comes to diagnose the ‘madness’ of the village and eventually there was a court case determining whether Llareggub would be cut off from the rest of the world, in which Captain Cat agrees they should be cut off because they are right just the way they are SIGNIFICANCE ALERT: The way a text innovates on the conventions of its form o In the end, UMW did not have a plot o Thomas subverted the conventions in its cyclical focus on a single day with its vignette-like structure o The different sections, allows Thomas to explore characters’ inner lives and establish several motifs including the relation between youth, memory and nostalgia, various forms of love and the relations between the living and the dead

Setting • Llareggub is most likely based on the real Welsh village of Laugharne where Thomas spent time writing • The play is somewhat about the town itself and its rhythms (both natural and artificial) • Llareggub is bursting with the subjective impressions of its inhabitants, it is a stage on which the play occurs (relates to pageant plays in this respect) • For pastoral texts, the setting matters, but Llareggub is no Arcadia and the self-conscious ironies and parody of the play suggests the town is no paradise, and yet Thomas describes the village with Arcadian and pastoral imagery of bounteous harvest, idleness and love (connection to Romanticism) • The map shows Coronation Street high on the hill and Cockle Street and Donkey Street down near the docks, this shows a separation based on class (as implied by the connotations of the street names), because of the positioning of the streets (back in the day, it wasn’t nice to live at the docks, it smelt and it was a sign you were poor and of the working class)

Notes Based on Ideas Grief and Nostalgia Idea: • Thomas expresses grief and nostalgia through dreams and memories to suggest the dead are not entirely lost, rather they live on through memories • The changed attitude of characters when asleep and awake show the impact grief has on the characters, with grief being set aside during the day, not impacting characters’ lives Context: Thomas is suggesting that the grief over World War II should not be forgotten but it should not stop one from moving forward.

‘But the one’

POLLY GARTER: ‘But the one I loved best awake or asleep/Was little Willy Wee and he’s six feet deep’ • Thomas expresses Polly’s grief over her lost love, Willy Weazel • In Richard Burton’s version the song is sung with a melancholy tone as created by the slow rhythm, emphasising the grief expressed in the rhyme

‘Me, Polly Garter’

POLLY GARTER: ‘Me, Polly Garter, under the washing line … where’s [the babies’] fathers live, my love?’ • Polly sets aside her grief and focuses on her children and daily chores

‘Mary Ann the Sailors’

‘the Chosen Land’

‘Mary Ann the Sailors dreams of/MARY ANN THE SAILORS: The Garden of Eden./She comes in her smock-frock and clogs.’ • Dreams of childhood, as realised through associations of ‘smock-frock and clogs’ with children • ‘the Garden of Eden’ has connotations of bliss, harmony and innocence and also associations with lost innocence, so Mary Ann is looking back on her childhood nostalgic for her lost innocence

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MARY ANN: ‘the Chosen Land’ Mary Ann calls Llareggub ‘the Chosen Land’, the biblical allusion to heaven reveals her happiness despite her nostalgia, her nostalgia does not impact her everyday life

Significance: From a world-context centred view, the text is valuable and significant because it offers commentary on society, suggesting grief and nostalgia after WWII should not prevent people from moving forward.

The Relationship between England and Wales Idea: The relationship between England and Wales is detrimental for Wales and Thomas criticises how England intrudes on Welsh culture both in religion and language. Context: Historically, England has been horrible to Wales, invading the country with their religion and their language.

‘Has Mr Jenkins’

1972 film adaptation

‘It is a spring’

MRS PUGH: ‘Has Mr Jenkins said his poetry? … Then it’s time to get up.’ • Humour is used to mock how the English religion, symbolised by Jenkins’ prayers, intrudes on the Welsh village and trivialises it by implying it helps tell the time In the 1972 film adaptation of UMW with Richard Burton, the guidebook is read in an English accent to a tourist bus plastered with union jacks, commonly associated with England, with everyone on the bus not paying attention, symbolic of the ignorance of England towards the Welsh

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• ‘the hillclimber’

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• • Juxtaposition •

‘It is a spring, moonless night in the small town, starless’ The Welsh bardic tradition of cynghanedd sain (sound harmony) is used, which generates a rhythm ‘the hillclimber, the healthseeker, the sportsman’ The guidebook, symbolic of the selling of Wales as a tourist product, interrupts the rhythm The guidebook is arguably rhythmic in its listing, it lack the internal rhyming that characterises cyghanedd sain, which an audience listening to the radio play would realise Juxtaposition between the guidebook’s voice and the First and Second voice Interpreting UMW as both radio play and poem, the audience recognises Thomas utilises voice idiosyncrasies to exhibit sound harmony and the resulting rhythm The difference between the voices is symbolic of the way outsiders, represented by the guidebook, disrupt Welsh culture, encapsulated by the sound harmony

Significance: From a world-context centred view, it is evident Thomas criticises the way England intrudes on Welsh culture, which is significant for providing societal critique on the Wales and England relationship.

The Relationship between the Living and the Dead: Death as not Final Idea: Thomas portrays the relationship between the living and the dead as close. Context: This changed attitude towards death can be construed as Thomas’ growing acceptance of death prompted by his own deteriorating health. Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night ‘Old age should’

‘too late’

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‘Old age should burn and rave at close of day’ Written as his father was dying, the poem exposes Thomas’ denial Thomas takes a defiant attitude towards death as indicated by the high modality ‘too late’ He suggests death is final through the negative connotations

UMW ‘Mr Pritchard … maddened’

‘Mr Pritchard … maddened by becoming, swabbing and scrubbing … ironically swallowed disinfectant’ • In UMW, Thomas became more accepting of death, showing death is not final, rather the dead live on in thoughts • Light-hearted tone towards death through humour

• ‘into the Davy’

‘into the Davy dark where … the long drowned nuzzle up to him’ Peaceful tone through associations of ‘Davy’ with the mining safety lamp, implying the dead are safe, and ‘nuzzle’ which has connotations of affection, reinforcing the idea the dead and living are close, especially as Captain Cat visits them in his dreams

Significance: From an author-centred lens, UMW is significant as it is distinct from Thomas’ other works for not portraying death as final and for the changed attitude towards death.

The Relationship between Humans and Nature: The Idyll Idea: Thomas explores the relationship between humans and nature through the idyll. Context: • Thomas revives the pastoral genre in UMW, adapting it to suit his post-WWII audience’s needs as people sought connection to the natural world over the mud of the trenches • Thomas retreated to nature after his war propaganda work and his celebration of nature suggests others should do the same

‘sits down on’

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Mary Ann who ‘sits down on the grass at [the old man’s] side’ Pastoral idea of idyllic nature Imagery of companionship creating positive associations of the idyllic setting and praising a personal relationship with nature

‘our green hill’

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‘our green hill’ Suggests close relationship is best through the inclusive language used to refer to Llareggub hill, implying the deep connection to nature indicative of the pastoral genre

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‘Llareggub in the sun in my old age, and this is the Chosen Land’ Celebrates relationship to nature Biblical allusion offers hyperbolic praise of the Welsh countryside ‘in my old age’ is reminiscent of Thomas’ own life in rural Laugharne, Wales

‘Llareggub in the’

Significance: Taking a text-centred approach and receiving UMW as pastoral, the text is significant as Thomas revives the pastoral vision in response to the needs of his time, despite the genre losing relevance in the previous century. Lost Innocence Idea: Thomas wanted to recreate a sense of lost innocence in order to find common humanity anchored by kindness, compassion and acceptance, through Reverend accepting Polly Garter. Context: Thomas viewed World War II as a loss of innocence.

‘little Willy Wee’

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‘Praise the’

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‘little Willy Wee who took me on his knee’ The idiom denotes sincere intent of marital love for him, despite the sexual impotence connoted by his phallic name and the adjective ‘little’ ‘Praise the Lord!’ Reverend Eli Jenkins celebrates Polly’s song about her own promiscuity, showing he accepts her and that her relationships are God’s praiseworthy work

Significance: Critiques the view of promiscuous women as less, instead implies acceptance and innocence should be championed.

Gender Idea/Context: • Thomas implies women are ‘loose’ or a Madonna, but never more than that, as recognised as their emotional depth is never characterised beyond either of their motivations, for example, Polly Garter’s grief for her dead lover is expressed through sex and Bessie’s grief of her dead ‘love’ is expressed through the domestic life • The female characters are defined by the expressions, not allowed to have concerns outside of these aspects of life, and merely fulfilling these stereotypical roles

‘Now, in her icebergwhite’

‘Now, in her iceberg-white, holily laundered crinoline nightgown, under virtuous polar sheets …/MRS OGMORE-PRITCHARD: Soon it will be time to get up. Tell me your tasks, in order./ MR OGMORE: I must put my pyjamas in the draw marked pyjamas … I must put on rubber gloves and search the peke for fleas.’ • Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard’s grief is expressed through the irrationality of her domestic life • She is characterised as a ‘Madonna’, an idealised virtuous woman • This shallow characterisation is evident in her dreams of her two deceased husbands helping her keep her home completely clean • ‘iceberg-white, holily laundered crinoline nightgown’ invokes an image of purity and virginity • The ‘tasks’ she gives her husbands are absurd, which characterises her as so anxious about germs and dirt, caused by her husband’s deaths, that she can only dream of domestic purity and cleanliness

‘Who cuddled you when?’

FIRST VOICE: ‘Who cuddled you when? Which of their gandering hubbies moaned in Milk Wood for your naughty mothering arms and body like a wardrobe, love?’ POLLY GARTER: ‘Me, Polly Garter, under the washing line, giving the breast in the garden to my bonny new baby. Nothing grows in our garden, only washing. And babies.’ • Polly both affirms and subverts the ‘Madonna/whore complex’ present throughout the text, as she is presented as a mother but also a ‘loose’ woman that keeps having babies • Polly is defined and thus confined by these terms, never characterised differently • Her self-expressed motherliness is pastoral, associating her babies the garden

‘Oh Tom Dick and Harry’

POLLY GARTER: ‘Oh Tom Dick and Harry were three fine men/And I’ll never have such loving again/But little Willy Wee who took me on his knee/Little Willy Weazel is the man for me.’ • Her promiscuous behaviour is explained through her grief for Willy Wee and is used humorously (the double entendre ‘Willy Weazel’) • She has relations with ‘Tom, Dick and Harry’, the common names implying everyone and anyone, but laments that she Willy Wee is the man for her

‘Alone until she’

‘Alone until she dies, Bessie Bighead, hired help...picks a posy … to put on the grave of Gomer Owen who kissed her once by the pig-sty’ • Bessie is defined by the one time she was kissed, her one interaction with a man, and the fact that she is a domestic servant • She is lustful in her grief

Significance: • Taking a world-context centred reading, or more accurately a feminist r...