Notes on the Art of Poetry ~ A Poem by Dylan Thomas

When Words Come Alive: Discovering the Hidden Worlds Inside Books

hat if the books on your shelf aren’t silent at all—but full of storms, laughter, and light still happening inside them?

Notes on the Art of Poetry

Dylan Thomas

I could never have dreamt that there were such goings-on
in the world between the covers of books, 
such sandstorms and ice blasts of words,,, 
such staggering peace, such enormous laughter, 
such and so many blinding bright lights,, ,
splashing all over the pages
in a million bits and pieces
all of which were words, words, words,
and each of which were alive forever
in its own delight and glory and oddity and light.

Source

Reflection

Dylan Thomas reminds us that reading is not passive—it is an act of entering a living universe. In his poem, he doesn’t describe books as objects, but as doorways to “sandstorms and ice blasts,” “enormous laughter,” and “blinding bright lights.” Words are not ink—they are weather systems, emotional landscapes, explosions of meaning.

Notice his wonder: not at the stories alone, but at the words themselves—each one “alive forever in its own delight and glory and oddity and light.” This is the secret he reveals: language is not just a tool for communication, but a force that creates worlds inside us. When we read, imagination doesn’t simply receive—we participate. We build with the author, breathe with the characters, feel the heat or ice of the scene. The page becomes a quiet stage for storms we can feel without fear.

Thomas invites us to remember: books don’t just inform us—they transform us. Every word has a pulse, waiting for a reader to wake it.

Question for Readers

Can you remember a book—or even a single sentence—that felt alive to you, as if the words carried light, power, or emotion beyond the page? Share one below and tell us why it stayed with you.