Darkness and ruin appear throughout “I see the boys of summer” and enhance Thomas’s commentary on man’s destructive capabilities. Within the first two stanzas, the boys “freeze the soils;” (3), “drown the cargoed apples” (6), and “Sour the boiling honey;” (8). In the first section, despite the light of summer, the boys are in ruin, and will become men of nothing. In the second section, the perspective shifts to the boys, and they further identify with darkness: “We are the dark derniers let us summon / Death from a summer woman,” (31-32). The boys are repeatedly paired with darkness and death, imbuing them with negative qualities and destructive abilities.

By the end of the poem, the boys continue to embody darkness and ruin: “I see you boys of summer in your ruin. / Man in his maggot’s barren.” (49-50). As men, they will find themselves in a maggot barren, alluding to their deaths and their rotting bodies in the ground. With darkness and ruin, Thomas imbues boys with destruction and shows they are destined for ruin and death.