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The theme of love and erotic desire is unfolded through numerous short glimpses of the doings and dreamings of the townsfolk whose variety mirrors the complexity of human life - from blind Captain Cat, who can only reminisce about sensual fulfilment, to polygamous Polly Garter who just seems to grow ".washing. And babies."" in her garden and the babies' fathers are ".Over the hills and far away."". .
Between these poles we find, among others, the variants of actual bigamy in the figure of baker Dai Bread, of platonic love in the relationship of draper Mog Edwards and sweet-shop keeper Miss Myfawny Price, of natural and uncomplicated affection between Mr and Mrs Cherry Owen, of repressed erotic desires in schoolmistress Gossamer Beynon for the landlord Sinbad Sailors, of erotomania in widower Mr Waldo, quack, cat doctor and barber, of possessive and destructive love in widow Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard, and of perverted love-hate as harboured by schoolmaster Pugh, who wants to poison his bickering wife. .
The dialogue has a lyric quality and Thomas uses a complex pattern of sound devices such as assonance and alliteration, and the musical blending of a multitude of voices. .
One good example of the use of assonance is found in the passage describing Lord Cutglass' collection of clocks: - Slow clocks, quick clocks, pendulumed heart knocks, china, alarm, grandfather cuckoo, clocks ' The repeated k' sound, which creates the image of the clocks and is aurally appealing. The cataloguing, combined with the repetition of the tick-tock sound may also suggest Lord Cutglass' madness. .
Alliteration is used in the following passage: - until her ears fall off like figs, her toes grow big and black as balloons, and steam comes screaming out of her navel. There is alliteration in fall' and figs', big', black' and balloons' and steam' and screaming' probably chosen to create aural appeal and to make the passage sound more violent.
