Thomas, Dylan Marlais (1914-1953)

Welsh poet, short-story writer, and playwright, renowned for the unique brilliance of his verbal imagery and for his celebration of natural beauty.

Thomas was born in Swansea, Wales, on October 27, 1914. After grammar school he moved to London where, in 1934, his first book of poetry, Eighteen Poems, was published. At this early age, he revealed unusual power in the use of poetic diction and imagery; the volume won him immediate critical acclaim. Thematically, these poems and virtually all that followed seem obscure because they contain elements of surrealism and personal fantasy. But the freshness and vitality of Thomas's language draw the reader into the poems and reveal the universality of the experiences with which they are concerned. This introspective tendency is less apparent in Deaths and Entrances (1946) and In Country Sleep (1951), which are generally regarded as containing his finest writing. Thomas's other works include Twenty-five Poems (1936) and The Map of Love (1939), containing both poetry and prose. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog (1940) is a group of autobiographical sketches, and Adventures in the Skin Trade (published posthumously, 1954) contains an unfinished novel and other prose pieces. During World War II (1939-1945) Thomas wrote scripts for documentary motion pictures.

After the war Thomas was a literary commentator for BBC radio. Under Milk Wood (published posthumously, 1954), a play for voices, was originally written for radiobroadcast; when Thomas read it for its first public performance in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1953, it was still unfinished. The work became his most famous piece; it evokes the lives of the inhabitants of Llareggub, a small, Welsh seaside town. Noted for his readings of his own verse, Thomas became legendary in the United States, where he gave many lecture tours and gained a wide following. Nevertheless, his last years were shadowed by an increasingly tragic view of his own tempestuous life. His death in New York City on November 9, 1953, was brought on by alcoholism.

"Thomas, Dylan Marlais,"
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Compton’s Encyclopedia has the following entry:-

THOMAS, Dylan (1914-53).

The Welsh poet Dylan Thomas was only 39 years old when he died. He had written poems that some critics considered the best of his time. He had become equally famous as a boisterous, heavy-drinking man who seemed determined to die young. His style of writing and his way of life made people think of him as a romantic poet like Byron and Keats. His life, like theirs, was dramatic.

Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea, Wales, on Oct. 27, 1914. His father was a schoolteacher. His mother came from a Welsh farming family. His first name, Dylan, means "tide" in Welsh. All his formal education was received at Swansea Grammar School. At 16 he quit school and worked as a reporter and writer.

Thomas' first published poem appeared in a magazine when he was 17. In 1932 he won a poetry prize and went to London to collect it and to meet other writers. His wit and love of company won him many friends. From that time on he moved back and forth between London and Laugharne, a South Wales port. He wrote poetry in sessions of hard work between drinking bouts. His first book, called '18 Poems', was published in 1934 when he was 20. Many critics received it enthusiastically, though the general public did not like it. In 1936 he married Caitlin Macnamara. They had two sons and one daughter.

In 1938 Thomas won the Oscar Blumenthal prize awarded by Poetry magazine. His work began to attract wider attention in the United States. In addition to poetry, Thomas wrote radio scripts, film scenarios, short stories, autobiographical sketches, and two plays. He made the first of three poetry-reading tours of the United States in 1950. Thomas read his own poems in a booming Welsh voice that was very effective on the stage. He looked like an untidy, overgrown boy, short and stout, with a snub nose and tousled brown hair. He died in New York City on Nov. 9, 1953, and was buried at Laugharne.

Although only 90 of his poems had been published, Thomas gained a reputation as one of the best of the younger poets writing in the English language. Thomas' poetry is personal. His work, sometimes so packed with images as to seem obscure at first reading, is primarily concerned with the cycle of birth and death.

His principal works are

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Excerpted from Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia
Copyright © 1994, 1995 Compton’s NewMedia, Inc.

Some links I have been asked to add:-

A film has been produced on Dylan Thomas:-
Return Journey, directed by Anthony Hopkins and starring Bob Kingdom.
Further details may be found at www.guerilla.u-net.com/dthomas.htm

There is also a book store specialising in Dylant Thomas.
Dylans Bookstore - Rare Books and Collectables by and about Dylan Thomas including all current print books and first editions.