" ...crying how bright
their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay"
Think of wavetops on choppy water, & how sunlight reflects from them--the light really dances. And think of the 7th wave or 9th wave, or whatever it is (I think it was Tennyson wrote a poem calling Milton the 7th wave of his [Milton's] age), you know, the wave that is supposed always to be the largest in a series.
I suppose it is significant Thomas chose a bay because the water is habitually choppier in bays or lakes than in seas or oceans.
Hopkins uses a similar image somewhere. Also, Hopkins'
"gash gold vermilion"
[the sparks coming up from a wood fire] bears some similarity.
What is really quite interesting to me, is, the light on the waves is necessarily a reflected light. Odd image for an atheist.
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