The Force That through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower Summary

“The Force that Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower” surveys five different scenes illustrating the destructive and creative power of time. Beginning with the force of a fuse, it continues with the force powering water, the hand whirling, the lips leeching, and the “crooked worm.” In only five stanzas, Thomas addresses wide-reaching themes such as life, death, and the passage of time. Key to the poem is the inextricable link between nature and humans, which is explored through continuous references comparing the life the poet feels in himself to the life which he sees coursing through the natural world.