"In My Craft or Sullen Art" is a poem from Dylan Thomas's 1946 collection Deaths and Entrances. A well known ars poetica, it expresses Thomas's values and aims as a poet—his sense of what poetry is for. He declares that he does not write for pay, praise, prestige, or career advancement, but rather for the "common wages" of lovers' "secret heart": that is, for an emotional response from ordinary, passionate readers. He seeks this human connection even though, during the actual writing process, he works alone and the world's "lovers" do not notice him at all.

• Read the full text of “In My Craft or Sullen Art”

• “In My Craft or Sullen Art” Summary

• “In My Craft or Sullen Art” Themes

  • 

    Poetry, Emotion, and Connection

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-20
  • 

    Artistic Purity vs. Worldly Ambition

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-20

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “In My Craft or Sullen Art”

  • Lines 1-5

    In my craft ...
    ... in their arms,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 6-9

    I labour by ...
    ... the ivory stages

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 10-11

    But for the ...
    ... most secret heart.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 12-16

    Not for the ...
    ... nightingales and psalms

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-20

    But for the ...
    ... craft or art.

    

    

    

    

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• “In My Craft or Sullen Art” Symbols

  • 

    The Raging Moon

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3: “Exercised in the still night / When only the moon rages”
    • Lines 12-13: “Not for the proud man apart / From the raging moon I write”

• “In My Craft or Sullen Art” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “lovers lie”
    • Line 6: “labour,” “light”
    • Line 13: “raging,” “write”
    • Line 19: “pay,” “praise”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “my craft or,” “art”
    • Line 3: “the moon rages”
    • Line 4: “the lovers”
    • Line 5: “griefs,” “their arms”
    • Line 7: “Not for”
    • Line 10: “But for,” “wages”
    • Line 12: “Not for”
    • Line 13: “the raging moon”
    • Line 15: “Nor”
    • Line 17: “But for,” “the lovers,” “their arms”
    • Line 18: “griefs”
    • Line 19: “wages”
    • Line 20: “Nor,” “my craft or art”

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Lines 15-16: “Nor for the towering dead / With their nightingales and psalms”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Line 3
    • Lines 4-5
    • Line 6
    • Lines 8-9
    • Lines 10-11
    • Lines 12-13
    • Line 14
    • Line 15
    • Lines 17-18

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 4-5: “abed / With”
    • Lines 7-8: “bread / Or”
    • Lines 8-9: “charms / On”
    • Lines 10-11: “wages / Of”
    • Lines 12-13: “apart / From”
    • Lines 13-14: “write / On”
    • Lines 15-16: “dead / With”
    • Lines 17-18: “arms / Round”

• “In My Craft or Sullen Art” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Sullen
  • Exercised
  • Abed
  • Bread
  • Strut and trade of charms
  • Ivory stages
  • Spindrift
  • Psalms
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “In my craft or sullen art”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “In My Craft or Sullen Art”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “In My Craft or Sullen Art” Speaker

• “In My Craft or Sullen Art” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “In My Craft or Sullen Art”

• More “In My Craft or Sullen Art” Resources

  • External Resources

    • The Poem Aloud — Listen to Dylan Thomas read "In My Craft or Sullen Art."

    • A Thomas Biography — Read about the poet's life and work at the Poetry Foundation.

    • More on the Ars Poetica — Learn more about the genre tradition Thomas's poem is part of.

    • A Dylan Thomas Doc — Watch a BBC film about the life of the poet.

    • More on the Poet — A brief Thomas biography at Poets.org.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Dylan Thomas

    • A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London

    • Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

    • Fern Hill

    • Poem in October

    • The force that through the green fuse drives the flower

    • The Hand That Signed the Paper

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