Dylan Thomas

Lore & Background

Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea in 1914, the son of a teacher and a seamstress. He left school in 1931 to become a reporter for the South Wales Daily Post. Between 1931 and 1935 he produced some 200 poems, with 'And death shall have no dominion' appearing in a national journal in May 1933 while he was still a teenager. He married Caitlin Macnamara in 1937, and they had three children: Llewelyn, Aeronwy, and Colm.

Thomas struggled to earn a living as a writer and augmented his income with reading tours and radio broadcasts. His BBC recordings in the late 1940s brought him wider public attention. He first traveled to the United States in the 1950s, where his readings brought fame but his erratic behavior and drinking worsened. During his fourth trip to New York in 1953, he became gravely ill, fell into a coma, and died on 9 November. His body was returned to Wales and interred at St. Martin's churchyard in Laugharne, Carmarthenshire.

Thomas had acquired a reputation, which he encouraged, as a 'roistering, drunken and doomed poet.' Appraisals of his work note his original, rhythmic and ingenious use of words and imagery. Later critical editions have sought to explore his unique modernist poetic, setting aside the legend of the 'doomed poet' to emphasize his status as a major 20th-century poet.

Reader's Guide

Dylan Thomas's significance lies in his distinctive poetic voice and his ability to reach a broad audience through radio and public readings. His works, such as 'Do not go gentle into that good night' and Under Milk Wood, remain widely known. During his lifetime, he became a popular poet despite financial difficulties, and his BBC broadcasts made him an accessible literary figure. His death at age 39 in New York City cemented a mythic image of the doomed artist, a reputation he himself fostered. Later scholarship has moved beyond this legend to examine his modernist techniques and the depth of his imagery. Thomas's legacy endures as a major poet of the 20th century, with his work continuing to be studied and appreciated for its rhythmic ingenuity and emotional power.

Did You Know?

• Thomas produced some 200 poems between 1931 and 1935, with 'And death shall have no dominion' being his first published in a national journal in May 1933.
• He was born in a red-brick semi-detached house at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive in Swansea, where he lived until age 23.
• His father chose the name Dylan after a character in The Mabinogion; his middle name Marlais honored his great-uncle, a Unitarian minister and poet.
• At the 1921 census, Thomas and his sister were noted as speaking both Welsh and English.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October, 1914 – 9 November, 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer." — Dylan Thomas "The force that through the green fuse drives the flower Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees Is my destroyer.

And I am dumb to tell the crooked rose My youth is bent by the same wintry fever." — Dylan Thomas "Dawn breaks behind the eyes; From poles of skull and toe the windy blood Slides like a sea; Nor fenced, nor staked, the gushers of the sky Spout to the rod Divining in a smile the oil of tears." — Dylan Thomas "Light breaks on secret lots, On tips of thought where thoughts smell in the rain; When logics die, The secret of the soil grows through the eye, And blood jumps in the sun; Above the waste allotments the dawn halts." — Dylan Thomas