Poetry Review: Dylan Thomas' "The Hand that Signed the Paper"

The use of power in the midst of war in a civilized society is at the heart of "The Hand that Signed the Paper," an intriguing classic poem from the prolific Welsh writer Dylan Thomas.

Made up of only four stanzas where there are four verses in each one, The Hand gave few hints that with the finiteness of the poem's construction, the poet aimed not to romanticize the message. By repeating words, Thomas succeeded in subtly conveying his message.

The consequences of great power when given to man is easily evoked by the poem based on the first few words.

Thomas uses the hand as a recurring motif ("A hand," "The hand," "The mighty hand," "Five sovereign fingers," "Hands"), and curiously, not the collective parts of the body as the doer of action.

This left me wondering that without the heart and mind, or any other part of the body, how can man face and cope with the conflict between his impulses? By living with the rules or by gratifying one's desires?

Since the "hand" symbolizes desire for power and how to further increase it, the results are evil. The consequences then include war, search for dominion, influence, and supremacy.

And in Thomas' poem, the hand hears no one, but himself alone. For the poet, humans are mere watchers, a robot, stripped off with any trace of human spirit or humanity.

Nevertheless, the poem is not interested in providing answers.

But in order to do good, one needs to use his hands also, which the poem refuses to acknowledge. But again, everyone have a choice: whether to respond to the call of man's first instinct or next, one must be ready to face the consequences of it.