life and death are one Nature gives life but also destroys This simple flower becomes a picture of God s power and man s weakness The Hill and Sea Symbols of Heaven and Memory In Poem in October the hill and the sea are holy symbols The poet walks from the still sleeping town to the hill s shoulder When he reaches the top he feels like he has reached heaven He says O may my heart's truth Still be sung On this high hill in a year's turning The hill becomes a symbol of spiritual rise The sea becomes a symbol of life s flow and memory As he looks down at the sea he remembers a child s forgotten mornings The hill takes him upward to heaven and the sea takes him backward to his childhood Both together show that memory and faith are one path to truth The Child Symbol of Innocence and Lost Joy In Poem in October the child appears again as a strong symbol Thomas remembers the long dead child who sang burning in the sun The child is the poet s younger self full of joy and purity Childhood becomes a symbol of truth innocence and heaven on earth The poet s tears and joy come from remembering this pure child The child represents the lost but living beauty of the past that still burns in his heart The Saviour Symbol of Love and Sacrifice In There Was a Saviour the saviour is a symbol of both Christ and humanity The poet says There was a saviour Rarer than radium Commoner than water The saviour stands for love kindness and forgiveness in a cruel world The children and churches of his tears show the power of human compassion The poem s saviour is not only divine but also human the best part of every soul It becomes a symbol of how goodness can live inside everyone not only in heaven but also in the human heart The Light Symbol of Life and Spirit In Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night the light is one of the most famous symbols It stands for life faith and hope The poet begs his father to fight and says Rage rage against the dying of the light Here light means the spirit of life When it dies death comes The poet s call to rage is not anger it is courage and love for life The light becomes a symbol of the eternal soul that refuses to fade It shines even in darkness like faith in pain The Water and River Symbols of Time and Purity In A Refusal to Mourn the Death by Fire of a Child in London Thomas uses water as a strong symbol Here water stands for purity and eternal peace The dead child becomes part of the river and the world again The river also means time which flows without end The child s death is not the end it becomes one with life s great stream The symbol of water joins death and life together in one eternal circle Dylan Thomas s world glows with living symbols Every image breathes life death and mystery Nature memory and spirit join as one song His poems turn simple things into sacred truth Through them life itself becomes a prayer of beauty