Right now, literature students somewhere are probably writing a paper about what “unicorn evils” means.
They are probably not the first.
It comes from “And Death Shall Have No Dominion” by Dylan Thomas. I ran across the poem in the library the other day, and I was blown away by how wonderfully weird it is. People think of it as romantic or inspirational, because of the theme of overcoming death and the most quoted couplet:
“Though lovers be lost love shall not,
And death shall have no dominion.”
But when I read the whole poem, I fell in love with some very different phrases.
“Faith in their hands shall snap in two,
And the unicorn evils run them through…”
This is what can be so wonderful for me about knowing nothing sometimes. The aforementioned graduate students probably have an idea about what Thomas meant when he wrote this. They’ve got mythological references, or information about the poet’s life and how it’s really a reference to some actual person, or they’ve linked it to some other writing somewhere.
Don’t get me wrong–if I won the lottery, you’d find me in those classrooms in a heartbeat. But because I know nothing, I’m free to put my own interpretations on the phrases. Even if I knew a lot, I think I’d try to preserve the ability to do this for my personal pleasure.
Also, “Unicorn Evils” would be a great band name.
Lori Lynne Armstrong 