Summary of The Poem Legal Reform by Thom Gunn:

About the Poet:

Thom Gunn was born on August 29, 1929, in London, England. He had a happy boyhood,
but this was overshadowed by the divorce of his parents when he was nine years old. He was
more attached to his mother. When he was fourteen, his mother committed suicide. He faced
several miserable experiences during his childhood and teenage years. All these experiences
were highlighted in his poetic works and his poetic works were quite similar to his life. He
was a homosexual and wrote a lot about LGBTQ+ rights. His poetic works were also
indicative of his experiences as a homosexual and the sense of unity among the members of
homosexuals. He moved to the US and liked the openness and freedom of expression that
was prevalent in Northern California during that time and his poetic works were also
influenced by this openness and freedoms in Northern California. His poetic works mainly
echo a sense of physical, social, and emotional liberty and focus on love, culture, and
homosexuality. He died on 25 April 2004 in San-Francisco in his home because of polydrug
abuse.
Summary: Legal Reform:
Legal reform is written by Thom Gunn. This poem is set in the 1960s, a time period when
homosexuality was not considered as an accepted norm of the society and the homosexuals
were suppressed by the authorities and were not given the right to express and protest about
their condition. In this poem, Thom Gunn basically talks about the mindset of a prisoner, who
is against the orthodox and unjust norms of the society and is punished and imprisoned for
opposing these norms.
In the first Stanza, he talks about the condemnation of the society because of him being a
homosexual. He is punished by the authorities, but he calls this condemnation better than
what he deserves and accepts the punishment happily. The optimism of the prisoner is
indicated by the following lines: “Condemned to life, a happier condemnation Than I
deserved.” Thom Gunn also refers to his own childhood experience by saying that “this time
love is not the paradox.” He says that because of the incident of the divorce of his parents.
His parent’s marriage was a love marriage and despite this, they took a divorce indicating that
love is a paradox. He is very obedient towards his punishment. He is punished because
becoming a non-conformist and challenging the pre-established norms of society. He is
imprisoned because of his love for his community of homosexuals and he uses the synonym
of ‘absolute law’ for the state. By serving the sentence, he indicates that he is in love with the
same law that unjustly punishes him.
In the second stanza, the poet talks about how he ended up in the prison. He remarks that he
ended up in the prison because of a simple law that states that anyone who does not love
(follow) the absolute law will be punished and imprisoned. The people with the same sexual
orientation were not allowed to admire and love each other during the 1960s, but the poet and
his community of homosexuals gathered and admired each other and thus, the poet was
punished and imprisoned. He is optimistic and is waiting for the end of his term. He also
indicates that he will pass this time in the prison in a disciplined way and will gain the
attention of the lawmakers and society. By staying peaceful and disciplined during his prison
stay, he believes that this will change the notions and perceptions of society and the
lawmakers.
In the third stanza, the poet talks about his stipulated time in prison and this is painful for him
as he is punished for an act that is not unjust. The poet describes his isolation and his
optimism about good and happy days by stating “My sentence stipulated exercise, Painful
and lonely in the walks of death, With twittering clouds of spirits: still there lies beneath the
common talk my single hope.” He is optimistic that his stipulated time at the prison will end

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 one day. He is alone in his suffering, but at the same time, he is hopeful that society will
change one day and he and his community of homosexuals will be acknowledged and
accepted by society. The ‘cage of breath’ symbolizes his prison cell and the ‘loosened rope’
indicates his optimism.
In the fourth stanza, the poet basically talks about his zeal and optimism of moving ahead in
life. He is optimistic and he is doing all the tasks given to him in the prison with full
dedication and hard work. He is hopeful that by doing all these tasks and remaining calm and
respecting his sentence, the norms of the society will change and he and his community will
get the rights and respect they deserve. He is alone in his suffering. But still, he is optimistic
and is working hard due to which he is never punished by the prison guard who is assigned to
supervise and watch over the labor of prisoners. He talks about his will and zeal to change the
orthodox and conservative norms of the society.
In the fifth and the penultimate stanza, the port basically talks about his optimism about good
times, his optimism about reform of the society and his optimism about the improvement of
the condition of his community. He believes that his obedience will change the notions of the
society and the perspective of the government that punished him even though he was not
wrong. He believes that he will serve as an example for those innocent people, who are
punished unjustly and will encourage them to bring a positive change into society. He
concludes with a realization that that law is in the hands of the people and the instances of
accusing someone who is on the wrong side of the law should be criticized and he is hopeful
that this will bring a positive change in society.

Submitted by: Raghav Sehgal, 20034, Semester 1.

Submitted to: Dr. Navleen Multani

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