Every Morning I Wake
Dylan Thomas
Summary:
Every Morning I Wake is an extract from a radio play named
Under Milk Wood of 1954 which was written by Dylan Thomas. In this poem, Thomas
prays to the magnificent God to have mercy on ordinary inhabitants living under
the Milk Wood. The poem is about the glorification and magnificence of God. God
can be presented with different qualities and forms. The speaker prays for the
god to keep his loving eyes on the poor creatures of the planet. The speaker
seems to be kind to the people.
Every morning he prays to God to have mercy on all poor
people under the wood. The people are fated to be born and die. As long as they
are alive, they need help and to be protected. These are possible with the
mercy of God. Every evening the speaker asks God for a blessing to protect the
town. The speaker is not sure whether they live or die. He is sure that God
comes to bless them go. In the third stanza, the speaker says that no one in
the town is completely bad or good.
He prays that God will see and judge them. God can decide
which is the best and which is the worst. These traits are judged by God. In
the last stanza of the poem, the speaker suggests all the inhabitants of Milk
Wood see another day. All the people of that place will bow to the sun because
they have good faith in the sun and bid goodbye as they are hoping to see the
sunrise the next day.
According to the poem we human beings are so imperfect to do
the activities. We fully depend on the mercy of God. Our lives are directed by
the blessing of God. We pray to God because he has great value and can preserve
Understanding the text
A.
When does the speaker pray to the Lord?
Answer: The speaker prays
to the Lord in the morning time and evening time.
B.
What does the speaker pray for?
Answer: The speaker prays
to the Lord for having his loving eye on all poor creatures who are mortal.
C.
Who are the “poor creatures”? Why does
the speaker call them “poor creatures”?
Answer: The ‘poor
creatures’ mean all the innocent creatures that are on planet earth. The
speaker alls them “poor creatures”
because they are born to die and it is not sure whether they can see another
morning or not.
D.
What does Milk Wood sound like? A type of
wood or a place? Why?
Answer: Milk Wood sounds
like a place because there is no use of an article before this noun. If it is a
type of wood then an article either ‘a’, ‘an’ or ‘the’ must have been used
according to grammatical rules.
E.
Why do the inhabitants of Milk Wood bow
to the setting sun “but just for now”?
Answer: The inhabitants of
Milk Wood bow to the setting sun “but just for now” because they know that they
are not permanent and they are ending the prayer of that day and wishing to see
another day.
Reference to the context
A.
Discuss “Every Morning When I Wake” as a
prayer to the God.
Answer: “Every Morning
When I Wake” is a prayer poem by Dylan Thomas’s. In this poem, the speaker
prays to the magnificent God to have mercy on ordinary inhabitants living under
the Milk Wood. The speaker prays to the Lord to keep his loving eye on all
mortal poor creatures. He says the remote of all creatures is in the hand of the
Lord and prays to have mercy on them. He prays to the Lord to let him/ them see
the next morning as no one knows what is going to happen tomorrow.
B.
Why does the speaker make a prayer to the
God, but not to a king, a billionaire or a scientist?
Answer: The God is the
creator of all beings. The God is immortal and all creatures are created and
destroyed by him. The remote of all creatures life is in the hand of the God. A
king, a billionaire and a scientist are nothing in front of the God. They are
just humans created by the God. They are born to die but the Lord is immortal.
Hence the speaker makes a prayer to the God, but not to a king, a billionaire
or a scientist.
C.
How does the poet highlight the
magnificence of the God? Answer: “Every Morning I Wake’ is a prayer poem by
Dylan Thomas.
In this poem, the speaker has
highlighted the magnificence of the God. He says that the God is the creator of
all creatures who can destroy it too. The God is immortal. We can see the next
morning because of the blessings of the God. He makes us and is guiding us. He
sees the best side of us as nobody is perfect to do so. In this way, the poet
describes the magnificence of the God by highlighting his powers.
D. How does the rhyme scheme
of the poem reinforce its message?
Answer: A rhyme scheme is
the ordered pattern of rhyming words at the end of each line of a poem. The
rhyming structure of this poem is AABB. The rhyme scheme of the poem reinforces
its message beautifully. It makes the poem lovely to read. AABB rhyme scheme
has made the poem much more attractive. It is a prayer poem in which the
speaker prays to the God to have mercy on all creatures. For this poem, the
rhyme scheme that has been used is the best.
Reference
beyond the text
A.
Does the God exist? Give your opinion.
Answer: “Does God exist?” is a controversial topic that has been discussed since the beginning of human civilization. It depends upon our beliefs. Some people believe in the existence of the God and some do not. In my opinion, the God exists. The God lives in our mind. The existence of God is like the existence of radiation. We just see the effects of it. We don’t see God but we find effects in our lives. Unexpected and miraculous things are an example of the existence of God. Although there is no physical presence of God, the God exists in our subconscious mind. Hence God exists upon us and the is immortal and intangible.