“I see the boys of summer” consists of three separate sections. The first two sections have four stanzas, and the last section contains a single stanza. All stanzas are six lines long, or sestets. The poem doesn’t follow a strict rhyme scheme, although Thomas does utilize slant rhymes, alliteration, and refrains. Thomas also uses various grammatical punctuations—commas, periods, and semicolons—to establish and maintain a deliberate and thoughtful pace. While sectioning the stanzas separates parts of the poem, the imagery, tone, and style remain complementary and develop a singular commentary on creation and destruction.

In the first section, the first stanza opens with an unidentified first-person narrator watching the titular boys of summer. Immediately, Thomas creates juxtaposing images, contrasting summer and gold with ruin and barren: “I see the boys of summer in their ruin / Lay the gold tithings barren,” (1-3). There is warmth and gold in the world, but the boys are ruinous, and they take. Thomas uses the rest of the stanza to imbue the boys with more power, which they use destructively. The boys search for girls, but their love is cold, and they’ll destroy harvested food along the way: “Of frozen loves they fetch their girls, / And drown the cargoed apples in their tides” (5-6).