The Lifespan of a Poem: “And Death Shall Have No Dominion”

“And Death Shall Have No Dominion” (trial proof) 1965, Ceri Richards.
(Credit: tate.org)

It’s a lucky thing when the work of one great artist can directly inspire another — new conversation is born and both pieces are given an inch more of artistic immortality. UK painter Ceri Richards’ (1903-1971) interpretation of Dylan Thomas’ 1933 poem, “And Death Shall Have No Dominion,” is a prime example of this. The two men were both natives of Swansea, Wales, and in 1965 Richards created a series of surrealist lithographs inspired by Thomas’ words. Here’s the poem’s first stanza:

And death shall have no dominion.
Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;
When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
They shall have stars at elbow and foot;
Though they go mad they shall be sane,
Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again;
Though lovers be lost love shall not;
And death shall have no dominion.

— Dylan Thomas, “And Death Shall Have No Dominion” (1933)

Dylan Thomas and wife Caitlin Macnamara.
(Credit: rockinpoetry.wikispaces.com)

Thomas wrote the poem in friendly competition with neighboring grocer and future poet Bert Trick, and published it in a 1936 collection of poetry. The goal was to write a poem on immortality, and Thomas wrote a brazen poem suggesting that it can be reached, oddly enough, through death.

All the humbleness of the human body is elevated through the speaker’s mounting, triumphant tone. Death has no dominion here — but not because it is evaded. Death “has no dominion” because it’s not seen as something that reduces the human body. Death meets us all, but doesn’t aim to conquer — only to transform. Thomas’ poem is a sublime reunion of man and earth; a state of being where humans “[have] stars at elbow at foot.” It’s an enigmatic unity that is exhilarating.

The Welsh coast.
(Credit: bbc.co.uk)

Like Thomas, Richards came from a middle-class family in Wales. After studying at the Swansea College of Art, he, however, spent most of his life in London. By the time he made “And Death Shall Have No Dominion,” his style had been well informed by both the cubist forms of Picasso and the frenetic brushstrokes of Cezanne. We see these influences in his surreal interpretation of “And Death Shall Have No Dominion,” which captures all of the raucousness of Thomas’s poem.

Ceri Richards.
(Credit: pinkpagodastudio)

The coolness of Richards’ color palette is a calming, welcoming anchor to an otherwise frantic scene. We’re not entirely sure of who is in control here – is that a bird or a piece of paper? Is something smoking? Are there lighting bolts? Maybe. Probably. It depends on how much you let yourself slow down as a viewer and examine the scene. Like the poem, Richards’ image has loose conjunctions between its grandiose images and actions (ex. bones picked clean, a rising sea and sinking lovers) that overwhelm at first read and move you at the second. We’re initially taken aback by the movement of the bird and mistake this movement for violence. Once we understand that we’re viewing a snapshot of time, we lose this urge. We see that the owl flies beside the skull without hesitation. As death and the bird become windswept, the table’s paper (a nod to Thomas) begins to flutter. We’re privy to the dying process, and it’s rather divine in all its chaos. With a bouquet in its beak, Death has never been so lively.

Do you have a favorite Dylan Thomas poem or Ceri Richards painting? We look forward to your comments below.

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