The Hand That Signed The Paper Analysis

Author: poem of Dylan Thomas Type: poem Views: 9

The hand that signed the paper felled a city;
Five sovereign fingers taxed the breath,
Doubled the globe of dead and halved a country;
These five kings did a king to death.

The mighty hand leads to a sloping shoulder,
The finger joints are cramped with chalk;
A goose's quill has put an end to murder
That put an end to talk.

The hand that signed the treaty bred a fever,
And famine grew, and locusts came;
Great is the hand the holds dominion over
Man by a scribbled name.

The five kings count the dead but do not soften
The crusted wound nor pat the brow;
A hand rules pity as a hand rules heaven;
Hands have no tears to flow.

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||| Analysis | Critique | Overview Below |||

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The disgust Thomas feels for this individual, this hand that rules, that 'holds dominion over man by a scribbled name' is clearly evident throughout.
But what interests me is that Thomas also seems to be criticizing God in his final two lines: 'A hand rules pity as a hand rules heaven; Hands have no tears to flow.' These lines convey two messages to me. Not only is he comparing the power of this individual to that of God, additionally, the lines seem to betray an anger towards God who does not show pity on the common man.

| Posted on 2009-06-20 | by a guest

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We give so much power to just one person in the modern way of governing “power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely” John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton (1834–1902)
These people that we trust with all the power of our country, modern leaders have the absolute power that can be likened to a sovereign rule, with a flick of a pen they can start a war, take all our money, and do away with each other without a thought or flicker remorse.

| Posted on 2008-10-13 | by a guest

.: Five Kings :.

This poem is about how government turns a cold shoulder to the feelings on man and has no real sympathy for the majority of it's people. It goes on to talk about how a government leader counts the dead and wounded, yet sheds no tears nor has pity. The five kings (symbolizing a hand - synecdoche) are thought to be at ease while ordering troops into battle, partially because they are not sending themselves nor close loved ones into the dangers and therefore have little sympathy for the dead.

| Posted on 2008-05-06 | by a guest

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