The Colours the Words Cast : Colour Terms in the Poetry of Dylan Thomas

The authors’ main aim is to investigate in detail the use of colour terms, and in particular to link this to the associations between colours and their connotative symbolic meanings, which form the basis for what have been called colour metaphors.

This book examines the use of colour terms in the poetry of Dylan Thomas, adopting a primarily linguistic and stylistic - rather than literary - approach. Although critical studies of the poetry of Dylan Thomas abound, systematic and detailed linguistic studies of his poems are relatively rare. The authors’ main aim is to investigate in detail the use of colour terms, and in particular to link this to the associations between colours and their connotative symbolic meanings, which form the basis for what have been called colour metaphors. They also provide a rich database of these associations which will be of use to researchers who may be 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.