The Colours the Words Cast

“This fascinating book offers a unique perspective on Dylan Thomas’s poetry. As an exercise in the linguistic analysis of literature, it is a peerless demonstration of both the practice and value of stylistic analysis. At the same time, it is a significant addition to literary scholarship on Thomas’s poetry and is an exemplar of the level of critical detail that can be uncovered via linguistic methods.”

—Dan McIntyre, Professor of English Language, Uppsala University, Sweden

This book examines the use of colour terms in the poetry of Dylan Thomas, adopting a linguistic and stylistic - rather than literary - approach. Although critical studies of the poetry of Dylan Thomas abound, linguistic analyses of his poems are rare. The authors investigate in detail Thomas’s use of colour terms and their connotative symbolic meanings, which form the basis for what have been called colour metaphors. The study is also a rich database which will be of use to researchers interested in the use of colour terms in other texts, whether literary or non-literary. This book will be of interest primarily to academics and advanced students in the field of linguistic stylistics.

Christopher Butler retired in 1998 from his professorial position at what is now York St John University, having previously been Head of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Nottingham, UK. His research is mainly in functional approaches to linguistic theory and description, with a particular interest in English and Spanish.

Anne-Marie Simon-Vandenbergen is Professor Emerita at Ghent University, Belgium. Her research interests include functional approaches to grammatical issues in English, with a special focus on modality, and contrastive grammar of English, French and Dutch.