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The Body in Dylan Thomas’ Poetry: Focused on Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s Theory of Body

This paper aims to interpret Dylan Thomas’ poetry in the light of Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s theory of body opposed to Descartes’ mind-body dualism. Though never having read Merleau-Ponty’s books, Thomas writes poems centering around the body which is one of the philosophical topics of Merleau-Ponty. While Merleau-Ponty wants to establish the theory for community based on body, Thomas tries to write the poems that can be understood by the immediate sensation of the body. Writing poems on body, Thomas struggles to bring the “overclothed blindness” into the “naked vision” and to come “from darkness towards some measure of light.” Thomas’ poems have been studied mainly on the basis of psychoanalytical approaches, which is likely to narrow a distinctive possibility of interpretation. This study focused on Merleau-Ponty’s theory of body enables us to regard Thomas as a religious poet who rethinks the sacred meanings embedded in our bodies. According to Merleau-Ponty, the world and the human body are so intricately intertwined that each object is a mirror of all others. All others could be communicated with us through bodily involvement. The concept of “flesh” introduced by Merleau-Ponty helps to fill up the gap between us and the others. Similarly, in a poem like “This Bread I Break” Thomas celebrates “flesh” bridging nature and men, men and God through the mystery of transubstantiation. Rereading poetry of Thomas based on Merleau-Ponty’s theory of body can show that lots of ambiguities of Thomas’ poetry may be deeply rooted in the sacred of body.