This study examines rhythm, syntax, sound, and diction in selected early and late poems from Dylan Thomas's Collected Poems. It demonstrates, on the basis of stylistic evidence, that the later poetry is the greater achievement. The early and later poems are different in the area of rhythm. Early poems are regularly metered with a strong iambic beat, and a majority of lines are end-stopped. Rhythms in the later, finer poems are irregular, and enjambed lines predominate. The later poems show an increased ability to match rhythm with meaning. Dylan Thomas's syntax is simpler on the surface than ordinarily supposed. Early poems contain restrictive relative clauses that result in complex deep structure and sentence stacking. The later poems contain appositive relative clauses, a change in style that results in greater clarity. Repetitive patterning is frequent during both poetic periods. Thomas shows his greatest virtuosity in the area of sound. Many techniques are common to both periods, but his achievement in making sound functional in the later poetry gives it greater dimension. In creating his unique poetic voice, Dylan Thomas uses both old and new devices. Common and uncommon rhetorical figures abound in both periods, but, in common with the other stylistic elements, the figures are used more effectively in the later poetry. On the basis of an examination of the stylistic elements of rhythm, syntax, sound, and diction, this study demonstrates a greater level of achievement in the last poems of Dylan Thomas.

This MA thesis focuses on four different Czech translations of William Shakespeare's narrative poem A Lover's Complaint (Antonín Klášterský 1923, Jarmila Urbánková 1997, Jiří Josek 2008, Martin Hilský 2009). The first part of the thesis characterizes the development of and changes in the Anglo-Saxon critical reception of this much-neglected work from its first publication up until the present day. Further, it shows the interdependence between the position of A Lover's Complaint in Shakespeare's canon and the interpretation of the poem's meaning. The second part focuses on the Czech critical reception and compares it to the Anglo-Saxon one. This part also introduces the four translators with respect to their literary and translation activities and describes the poetic and translation norms prevalent at the time of their careers. In the third (the empirical) part, the focus is on formal and semantic analysis of the source text, as well as of the individual translations. On the basis of these analyses it is examined to what extent the translations correspond to the source text; what shifts, losses or enrichments occur as a result of each translation. The individual translation methods are compared and contrasted. The ultimate objective is to describe the poetics of each translation and its...