The Hunchback in the park

The hunchback in the park

A solitary mister
Propped between trees and water
From the opening of the garden lock
That lets the trees and water enter
Until the Sunday sombre bell at dark

Eating bread from a newspaper

Drinking water from the chained cup
That the children filled with gravel
In the fountain basin where I sailed my ship
Slept at night in a dog kennel
But nobody chained him up.

Like the park birds he came early

Like the water he sat down
And Mister they called Hey mister
The truant boys from the town
Running when he had heard them clearly
On out of sound

Past lake and rockery

Laughing when he shook his paper
Hunchbacked in mockery
Through the loud zoo of the willow groves
Dodging the park keeper
With his stick that picked up leaves.

And the old dog sleeper

Alone between nurses and swans
While the boys among willows
Made the tigers jump out of their eyes
To roar on the rockery stones
And the groves were blue with sailors

Made all day until bell time

A woman figure without fault
Straight as a young elm
Straight and tall from his crooked bones
That she might stand in the night
After the locks and chains

All night in the unmade park

After the railings and shrubberies
The birds the grass the trees the lake
And the wild boys innocent as strawberries
Had followed the hunchback
To his kennel in the dark.

(Dylan Thomas)
Poet Introduction
Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet
and writer. He was born in Swansea, Wales, in 1914. An undistinguished pupil, he
left school at 16 and became a journalist for a short time. One of Dylan Thomas's
most famous and best-loved poems, 'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night' is a
villanelle, a poem divided into three-line stanzas where the same two repeated
lines of verse comprise the last line of each alternating stanza. The official
prognosis was that he died from a swelling of the brain caused by pneumonia and
poor oxygen supply.The poem throws light upon the kind of treatment meted out to
the differently-abled people. The deep soul wreathing cry of the lonely ones is
portrayed through the imaginations. Thus, the poem is a wonderful reflection of the
pathos of a loner.
Vocabulary

Stanza 1:

Solitary: existing alone, single

Propped: support, keep in position

Stanza 2:

Chained: confined with chains

Growl: angry, annoyed

Kennel: a pack of dogs

Stanza 3 :

Truant: absent without permission

Stanza 4:

Rockery: rough stones with soil

Mockery: teasing a person

Dodging: avoid someone or something Stanza 6:

Crooked bones: bent or twisted, illegal

Stanza 7:

Railings: barrier made of rails

Shrubberies: area of garden with shrubs

General Meaning
The entire poem is about a hunchback who is tormented and teased by people both
adult and young. He is secluded from the society and lives in solitude. The poet
correctly calls him solitary mister. The poem is filled with partial rhyme such as
water/enter, lock/ dark.The Hunchback in the Park’ symbolises human isolation,
specifically human isolation contrived through the ostracising and denouncement
of a hunchback, for reasons relating to both his physical deformity and social
destitution.One of the best poems of Dylan Thomas, this stands supreme as I
expresses a soulful cry of the hunchback one. The imaginative power reflects how
wonderfully the poet can beautify the qualities of the lonely hunchback.

Detailed Meaning
The miserable condition of a Hunchback person is described. In our society such
people are displayed as a sort of taboo’s in themselves, like we don’t owe them.
We consider ourselves far much better than them despite the fact that this ain’t
their fault.. Here the poet has heightened the figure of a Hunchback person who is
living alone in a miserable state, where he is stuck in between trees, water and
plants and somewhere in his own state of mind. He earns from newspaper and
drinks water from the fountain basin where the poet used to sail his ships. He
drinks from the chained cup from the gravel filled basin, and such an unhygienic
condition displays his lifestyle. He sleeps in a dog kennel. He is even deprived of
the respect which somehow every person wishes to enjoy. The poet follow a sense
of zoomorphism where Thomas uses a simile to characterise the hunchback as an
early riser, like the park birds and then sits as still as water. Here Thomas also
introduces the children who taunt him ,but it is a taunting of childish playfulness
and mischievousness where they call out of him and then run away..In the last line
Thomas uses assonance in, "on out of sound".The repetition of 'o' sound draws
attention to the phrases, Thomas does so that the reader notices the use of sound
rather than the sight .I feel particularly sorry for the hunchback at this point ,as it
seems unfair that he suffer from both hunchback and blindness. Dylan Thomas
combines themes of childhood, adulthood, humanity, and nature. His words
describe a scenario which causes the reader to ponder why human beings are the
way we are, even as young children. He points out the tendency of children to
make fun of those that are different, and the tendency of adults to avoid people
with differences. He also uses the man with a hunchback to reveal how people can
transcend societal values to be able to live above them. Poet continuous to describe
the activities of the hunchback and the mockery he has to face not only from the
children but also from the park keeper whom he has to dodge. Whatever he does he
is mocked. Thus we see that the hunchback is tormented where ever he goes even
by adults. The most irritating factor to the poet is that the truant children who visit
to the park. They mock at the physically handicapped person. They jeered at him
and call often mister, which refers to the people without little nobility. They also
want to scare him by facial expressions and by eyes. On Sundays, he is left alone
without any people presence in the park. Then Nature provides solace. Till here we
assume that this is a kind of pity poem to be sympathetic. This is where Dylan
poems differ.The speaker reveals that the mocking boys treat the hunchback man
more like an animal in a zoo than another human being. They laugh “when he
shook his paper” and they walk around “hunchbacked in mockery”. The speaker
refers to the park as the “loud zoo” to imply that way in which the boys are treating
the hunchback. They continue to mock him, “dodging the park keeper” which is
perhaps the park ranger or another person in authority who might put a stop to their
teasing of the man.The real world and metaphorical mix together. The old dog-
sleeper is a nickname for the hunchback himself who was compared to a dog in the
second stanza. It is clear he has temporarily found refuge with the swans. Another
nod to nature, perhaps to highlight that whilst the man may be different he is every
bit as beautiful as the rest of the animals/plants. The boys are likened to tigers and
this is undoubtedly to highlight their predatory nature whilst staying true to the
natural-imagery.The hunchback then discovers a woman and compares her to
himself. She is everything he is not. She is described as being without fault and
straight and tall. This stanza suggests that the hunchback has a longing for a
relationship with somebody like that “that she might stand in the night” suggests he
wants companionship. Kennel may be where the poet, who is reflecting on his
childhood memories, believed the hunchback slept , but it still shows that he does
not live in luxury. The trees and the grass following the hunchback links into the
idea that they are his prison and he cannot escape them, as well as suggesting that
he sleeps in the park, with them all around himThe hunchback is linked to ‘The
Tempest, Wild boys innocent as strawberries. This represents Miranda as she is
innocent of the rest of the world. “The wild boys” can't see beyond the look of the
hunchback. ‘unmade’ an adjective pre – modifier suggests the hunchback’s home
is unmade and unfinished. The poem is full of descriptions of nature .

 The trees , lake and grass are all personified.

 The park is a very special place , it is full of nature and therefore not part of
civilisation it is a place for imagination.
 The poem presents outsiders in a sympathetic light – like “ Clown punk".

Dylan Thomas clearly now feels sorry for the hunchback, as well as guilty for
accepting his treatment, which he conveys through a range if effective techniques.
He depicts the life of the hunchback, showing his loneliness and his poor treatment
at the hands of others , though he has done nothing to deserve it. In reflection, it
seems to me that these points can also be applied to the treatment of the disabled
and homeless people by society in general. This poem made me feel sorry on a lot
of different levels, and I felt attached to him in same way. It made me wonder why
people are treated so differently because of their defects, for which they are
mocked instead of being helped to overcome.The entire poem is about a hunchback
who is treated and teased by people both adult and young . He is secluded from the
society and lives in solitude.

Poets Intentions
The Hunchback in the Park’ symbolises human isolation, specifically human
isolation contrived through the ostracising and denouncement of a hunchback, for
reasons relating to both his physical deformity and social destitution. a poem that
makes me feel pity, as it is about a disabled, homeless man who lived in Thomas’s
home town park when the poet was a child. The restricted theme of the poem is the
life of the hunchback, and the universal theme of the poem is the treatment of
disabled people by modern society. In this essay I intend to investigate how Dylan
Thomas creates sympathy and empathy for the hunchback.

Dylan Thomas uses the hunchback’s disabilities to create feelings of pity towards
him. The title of the poem, "The Hunchback" defines him solely by his disability,
and does not give him a name or anything human. This means that the reader pities
the hunchback, as already they know he is disabled, and it is more important that
he is disabled than who he is to many people.

The poet want to ;

 1- Creates sympathy for the hunchback by highlighting how he is
uncared for and nobody bothers to even acknowledge him.
2- Shows the hunchback’s disability to imprisonment to make us pity
him
3- Shows the hunchback is mocked and treated like an animal, which
also leads to us feeling sorry for him.
4- Shows lonely life of the hunchback makes us pity him through
Thomas’s techniques.
5- Clearly now feels sorry for the hunchback, as well as guilty for
accepting his treatment, which he conveys through a range of
effective techniques. He depicts the life of the hunchback, showing
his loneliness and his poor treatment at the hands of others, though
he has done nothing to deserve it. On reflection, it seems to me that
these points can also be applied to the treatment of disabled and
homeless people by society in general.

Literary devices

Symbolism
Symbolism is the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities. The Hunchback in
the Park’ symbolises human isolation, specifically human isolation contrived
through the ostracising and denouncement of a hunchback.

Tone
Tone, in written composition, is an attitude of a writer toward a subject or an
audience. The tone of Thomas’ poem hinges on despair and loneliness, with the
first stanza introducing the hunchback through his given nickname, ‘the hunchback
in the park’ and then adds the adjective of ‘solitary’ which levers him down as
someone completely disparate and withdrawn from society.
Connotation
Connotation refers to a meaning that is implied by a word apart from the thing
which it describes explicitly. In the poem life is accentuated by connotations in the
word like sombre and dark which evokes the sense of emptiness that is isolation
and darkness.

Simile:
Simile is a figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between
two different things. The third stanza follows a sense of zoomorphism where
Thomas uses a simile to characterise the hunchback as an early riser, like the park
birds and then sits as a still as water.

Metaphor
Thomas also sketches the different ways of life that take place all around the
hunchback. From the nurses with the babies that come into the park with the
vivacity of tigers.

Contrast
An author uses contrast when he or she describes the difference(s) between two or
more entities. The poem can also be interpreted as a contrast between life and
death, and the process to ac Thomas heightens to reveal a marvellous contrast
between outward cruelty and hurt to the inward beauty and peace.

Alliteration
The repetition of consonants usually at the beginning of words.

In last stanza there is alliteration of s in strawberries and shrubberies.

Rhyme
Words with matching final vowels and following sounds.

Park and dark ; rhyming couplet open and ends the poem. This adds to the cyclical
nature of each day and night in the park.
Rhythm
The pattern of sounds in the 6 line stanza with 7- 10 syllables per line.Irregular
rhythm ina each line suggests the irregularity of the hunchback in the boys' view.