Dylan Thomas was drunk with melody, and v*iat the words were he cared not. He was eloquent, and what cause he was pleading, he cared not. ... He kept musical control of the reader without troubling about the sense. DEGREES On the other hand, critics like Elder Olson and Derek Stanford, vdio admire and defend Thomas, attempt expositions of the meaning of his poems. Few studies other than the excellent articles by William T. Moynihan try to relate the sound and meaning in Thomas's poetry. The purpose of this study is to submit analyses of certain aspects of the sound pattern in twenty-eight selected and representative examples of See "Dylan Thomas: A Review of his Collected Poems," in Preliminary Essays (New York, IS57), p. 182. The Crowning Privilege: Collected Essays on Poetry (New York, 1956), pp. 158-13S. ' Dylan Thomas's poetry and to relate these aspects of sound to the meaning of his poetry. It is important to emphasize, however, that the study does not pretend to be absolutely conclusive.