Dylan Thomas is my favorite poet. There, I said it. I know he's obscure, almost opaque. I know he was too impressed with his ability to wring meanings out of words in a seemingly random pattern. Still . . .

     Though lovers be lost love shall not;
     And death shall have no dominion.

"And Death Shall Have No Dominion" is Dylan Thomas's greatest work, and far less opaque than most. These lines will be inscribed on my tombstone, which should give a bit of an insight into how important to me this poem really is. I have had death anxiety since my heart attack and I have been working it out in therapy for years. Fortunately, the feeling of impending doom is largely gone. The fear of going to sleep and never waking up is far less intense. This poem is part of my therapy and I recite it often to myself, a reminder that we do not know what waits behind that final door. Clearly I am not alone in my love for this poem.

Here a lady found the song inside the poem:

This version of the poem is from Poem Hunter:
And death shall have no dominion.
Dead man 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.

And death shall have no dominion.
Under the windings of the sea
They lying long shall not die windily;
Twisting on racks when sinews give way,
Strapped to a wheel, yet they shall not break;
Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through;
Split all ends up they shan't crack;
And death shall have no dominion.

And death shall have no dominion.
No more may gulls cry at their ears
Or waves break loud on the seashores;
Where blew a flower may a flower no more
Lift its head to the blows of the rain;
Though they be mad and dead as nails,
Heads of the characters hammer through daisies;
Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
And death shall have no dominion.

When I teach 10th grade, I always teach this story and it seems exceptionally relevant to our current culture. "Masque." Poe was exceptionally talented at writing the perfect opening paragraph.

THE  “Red  Death”  had  long  devastated  the  country.  No pestilence  had  ever  been  so  fatal, or  so  hideous.  Blood  was its  Avatar  and  its  seal—the  redness  and  the  horror  of  blood. There  were  sharp pains,  and  sudden dizziness,  and  then profuse  bleeding  at the  pores,  with dissolution.  The  scarlet stains  upon  the  body  and  especially  upon  the  face  of  the victim,  were  the  pest  ban  which  shut  him  out  from the aid and  from the  sympathy  of  his  fellow-men.  And  the  whole seizure, progress,  and  termination of  the  disease,  were  the incidents  of  half  an hour.   

Thus Poe begins the story of a Prince trying to ride out a plague, expecting that his money would shield him from the worst of it. We are all Prince Prospero and we are all the shadows in the masquerade. We are ruled by fear, chaos, and hate. We mistake greed for ambition and worship at the altars of those we perceive to be our betters. We love our neighbors if they have the exact same politics and despise them if they don't. 

Because "Masque" is an allegory for both a pandemic and an oligarchy, it had a unique and singular impact in 2020 and 2021.

Now, I wonder if I should teach it at all because my students are already traumatized enough by this shakeup of society. Do they really need to read an allegory that ends with no hope for the future?  Or will reading the story prove cathartic and relatable & let them know that they are not alone inside a terrible human experience?

No matter the decision, I feel everyone should read this story at least once, as it is one of Poe's finest works and a masterclass in writing allegories.

The final line resonate in 2022 and is one of my favorites in all American Literature:

"And Darkness and Decay and Death held illimitable dominion over all."

Let's hope we can turn it around before it turns us inside out. 

Links: 
The Story: 
 https://www.owleyes.org/text/masque-red-death/read/the-masque-of-the-red-death#root-75127-1/151529

Short Film:
This film contains some intense images of the plague.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2Nq-vJ_dcg 

Audio Only:
https://www.owleyes.org/text/masque-red-death/read/the-masque-of-the-red-death#root-75127-1/151529
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