Emma Cisneros

Mr. Munoz
English IV AP, 4th
18 September 2014
Fern Hill Analysis
The main idea of Fern Hill is time and how it changes. As Thomas grows his perception
of time changes from positive to negative and he wishes he could have spent his childhood more
wisely. He shows this through symbolism, personification, imagery, and tone shift.
In the beginning of Fern Hill, Thomas has as a very positive view of time. He uses the
color green to symbolize his youth and how he played with time. In line ten he describes himself
as young and imaginative and carefree by saying, I was green and carefree. In nature, the color
green represents spring, a time of youth and prosperity. Thomas is young without any stress,
playing with time and doing whatever he wants with it. He shows this by saying, Golden in the
heydays of his eyes which means he thinks he has control over time and right now time sees
him as royalty. Finally, in stanzas four and six he mentions the word white. In the beginning of
the poem we see the word green more often, but as the poem goes on, he gets older and starts
using the word white to show his old age. The colors symbolize the changing of time, green for
spring and youthfulness and white for winter and old age.
Thomas personifies time to show how drastic the change in his perception will be later in
the poem. Thomas says, Time let me hail and climb, he means that he is playing with time and
time is allowing him to do so because he is still a child. Again, in line 13, he describes time as
having power over him by saying, Time let me play and be. All this time, he is having fun and
not worrying about anything because he feels like he is in control of time. Towards the end of the

poem, as Thomas grows old, he is now realizing that he does not control time and his is starting
to run out. In line 51 he says, Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would take
me, time is moving forward and taking him with it, whether he likes it or not.
The first three stanzas talk about childhood and imagination. In nature, youth is related to
spring when all things are starting to bloom and there is new life. In the fourth and fifth stanzas,
he is getting older and more aware that time is running out, this is related to fall. In the fall, the
leaves begin to change color and fall off the trees and all the animals prepare for winter. In the
last stanza, he is already old and close to death. In nature, old age is related to winter. The color
white is used and he finally mentions death at the very end of the last stanza. His road is coming
to an end and he isnt able to play with time anymore.
In the beginning of the poem, Thomas has a very positive perception of time. He is able
to use his imagination and play with time. Toward the end of the poem, his perception changes
from positive to negative. Now that he is older, he sees that he does not control time and it is
moving forward. He wishes that he could have done more with his childhood and not played
with time like he did.
Thomas now realizes that people should not take time for granted because now that he is
old and dying he understands how precious time is. As time changes so does age and we tend to
take our time for granted. Thomas is able to show how his perception of time changes through by
using symbols, personification, imagery, and tone shift.