The Poetry of Thom Gunn: A Critical Study

Thom Gunn served as a mouthpiece for his time, illustrating the social, cultural, and historical transformations that have characterized western civilization from World War II until today. Starting with theoretical premises drawn from philosophy, anthropology, and sociology, this work examines Thom Gunn's entire poetic career. In Gunn's early poetry, the author argues, the predominant theme is the desire for freedom from the painful prison of the intellect and from the masks that the individual feels compelled to wear even in his sexual relationships. In Gunn's later poetry, the author notes a gradual opening to human relationships and to Nature, which is also Gunn's vindication and reevaluation of his own nature and the liberation of his long repressed and hidden homosexuality.