An Elegy for Dylan Thomas

This poem by Dannie Abse is about the admiration and adoration that he has towards Dylan Thomas. Therefore, I believe that the main themes in this poem are passion and admiration. I feel that this poem links to 'For Sidney Bechet' as both poets focus on someone that they look up to and adore. However, it can also link to 'Mr Bleaney' as both poems talk about somebody else's life where the writer is removed from the poem.
One of the things that I found interesting about this poem was the way the poet focused on Thomas' marriage throughout. This can be seen in "Death was his voluntary marriage", "whiskey-meadows of her breath". This suggests that Dylan Thomas had an unhappy marriage that was fuelled by alcohol leading to arguments between the two. There is also a focus in this poem that this marriage has changed his and that nothing can bring him back to the way he was before. This can be seen in "not even for the sake of love can his true energy come back". The sense that he will never be the way he was before can also be portrayed in "stranger" which suggests that Dylan Thomas is now unrecognisable compared to how he was before.
In this poem there is no regular rhyme scheme which I feel could reflect his rocky marriage and the way that his life and marriage has been affected by alcohol.
The structure of the poem is also uneven which could portray the uneven and uncertain path that his life had to offer.