AN OLD MAN – R. S. THOMAS

LOOK at him there on the wet road,

Muffled with smoke, an old man trying

Time’s treacherous ice with a slow foot.

Tears on his cheek are the last glitter

On bare branches of the long storm

That shook him once leaving him bowed

And destitute as a tree stripped

Of foliage under a bald sky.

Come, then, winter, build with your cold

Hands a bridge over those depths

His mind balks at; let him go on,

Confident still; let the hard hammer

Of pain fall with as light a blow

On the brow’s anvil as the sun does now.

REV. RONALD STUART THOMAS (1913—) is a Welshman and priest, ordained in 1936. His poems are honest, realistic and sometimes severe. They have the naked strength of the Welsh landscape which forms the background of his poems. The rhythm of his poems is slow and deliberate.

AN OLD MAN deals with the coming of old age. As the body decays and death draws near the old man falters on the path of life and slowly succumbs to the ravages that life had wrought on him. Here winter is taken to represent time and the poet requests winter to be kind so that the severity of old age and death are allayed or mitigated. The image of the bridge that winter is asked to build presents the picture of man’s life as a journey across the bridge of death to the world beyond.   

muffled:            wrapped or covered

trying time’s treacherous ice with slow foot: time is described as treacherous like the crust of ice on 
                       road,lakes or rivers. On road it is slippery, on lakes or rivers it may break when stepped                       on letting the man fall into the icy water below. As one becomes old the world becomes                        a dangerous place for him. So one has to tread carefully (live carefully).

long storm:      the span of life; the storm here is used as a metaphor of life

destitute:          poor, bereft

stripped:          made bare

bridge:             the bridge here symbolizes death

balk:                shirk, hesitate; (here) to be afraid to go forward

anvil:               an iron block on which the blacksmith hammers metal to shape

AN OLD MAN – REV. RONALD STUART THOMAS

Rev. Ronald Stuart Thomas’ poem ‘An Old Man’ is one of the shortest and beautiful poems of his imagination but it is the best of its kind. His poems are remarkably honest, realistic and sometimes very severe in suggestion. As a parson R. S. Thomas is successful in this poem in bringing out the true difficulties of ‘the old age’ and exerting the public sympathy towards old people.

The poem ‘An Old Man’ deals with the subject of approaching old age and its difficulties. As the body decays and imminent death draws near, the old man falters on the path of life and slowly succumbs to the ravages that life had wrought on him. Metaphorically, the season ‘winter’ is taken to represent the time of ‘old age’ and the poet requests ‘the winter’ to be kind enough towards old men so that the severity of old age and death are allayed. The image of the bridge that winter is asked to build presents the picture of man’s life as a journey across the bridge of death to the world beyond.

The poet asks us with a great concern to look at an old man reverentially who is trying with slow foot on the wet road muffled with smoke. The old age, the last stage of the life, is compared to winter as the last season of the year. The old man is seen in this poem, walking slowly on the dangerous slippery icy roads. The winter time is described as treacherous like the crust of ice on roads, lakes or rivers. The icy roads are slippery and on lakes or rivers the ice may break when stepped on letting the man fall into the icy water below. As a person becomes old, the world becomes a dangerous place for him so he has to tread carefully (live carefully). The tears on his cheeks resembling as the last glitters on the bare branches of a tree whose foliage ravished in the long storm. He asks the winter to build a bridge with its cold hands to walk slowly and confidently across the deep depths like difficulties of his life to meet his Death. The poem concludes with great revelation that all people on this earth are shaped with a hard hammer of ‘Pain’ on the anvil of the ‘Time’ under the Sun subjected to endure the difficulties of old age.

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