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The Bread of Truth
This new book of poems by R. S. Thomas divides itself conveniently into three parts, not that the sections are printed separately. To the discerning reader, however, three themes will be apparent as occupying the poet's attention.
Firstly, there is that old obsession with the Welsh hill country and the people who live there; more especially with Iago Prytherch, that stark figure that so haunts and fascinates Thomas's mind. Secondly, there is the absorption with Welsh nationality, itself made more urgent now by the increasing threat to the very existence, and of all small nations, as a separate entity.
And lastly, intermingled with thesd poems, there are those on occasional subjects, which have to do with what it means to be a poet at all in a certain part of the world at this point in time.
Firstly, there is that old obsession with the Welsh hill country and the people who live there; more especially with Iago Prytherch, that stark figure that so haunts and fascinates Thomas's mind. Secondly, there is the absorption with Welsh nationality, itself made more urgent now by the increasing threat to the very existence, and of all small nations, as a separate entity.
And lastly, intermingled with thesd poems, there are those on occasional subjects, which have to do with what it means to be a poet at all in a certain part of the world at this point in time.
- GenresPoetry
48 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1963
5 people want to read
About the author
R.S. Thomas
92Ìýbooks55ÌýfollowersRonald Stuart Thomas (1913-2000) (otherwise stylised as R.S. Thomas) was a Welsh poet and Anglican priest who was noted for his nationalism, spirituality and deep dislike of the anglicisation of Wales.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 4, 2019
"And when he wrote,
Drawing ink from his own veins'
Blood and iron, the sentences
Opened again the concealed wounds
Of history in the comfortable flesh."
This collection of poems by R.S. Thomas contains many poems which seem to "open again concealed wounds" and are rather melancholic. Some of them are written from his perspective as a priest struggling with the silence of God and the unresponsiveness of his congregation. The following excerpt from the poem "Service" is a beautiful example of this motif:
"I call on God
In the after silence, and my shadow
Wrestles with him upon a wall
Of plaster, that has all the nation's
Hardness in it. They see me thrown
Without movement of their oblique eyes."
Drawing ink from his own veins'
Blood and iron, the sentences
Opened again the concealed wounds
Of history in the comfortable flesh."
This collection of poems by R.S. Thomas contains many poems which seem to "open again concealed wounds" and are rather melancholic. Some of them are written from his perspective as a priest struggling with the silence of God and the unresponsiveness of his congregation. The following excerpt from the poem "Service" is a beautiful example of this motif:
"I call on God
In the after silence, and my shadow
Wrestles with him upon a wall
Of plaster, that has all the nation's
Hardness in it. They see me thrown
Without movement of their oblique eyes."
Displaying 1 of 1 review
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