Dylan Thomas

Lore & Background

Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea in 1914, leaving school in 1932 to become a reporter for the South Wales Daily Post. A number of the some 200 poems he produced between 1931 and 1935 appeared in print while he was still a teenager, including one of his best known, And Death Shall Have No Dominion, the first he had published, in May 1933, in a national journal. While living in London, Thomas met Caitlin Macnamara; they married in 1937 and had three children: Llewelyn, Aeronwy, and Colm. He came to be appreciated as a popular poet during his lifetime, though he found earning a living as a writer difficult. He began augmenting his income with reading tours and radio broadcasts. His radio recordings for the BBC during the late 1940s brought him to a wider public's attention, and he was frequently featured by the BBC as an accessible voice of the literary scene. Thomas first travelled to the United States in the 1950s; his readings there brought him a degree of fame, while his erratic behaviour and drinking worsened. During his fourth trip to New York in 1953, Thomas became gravely ill and fell into a coma. He died on 9 November, and his body was returned to Wales. On 25 November, he was interred at St. Martin's churchyard in Laugharne, Carmarthenshire.

Reader's Guide

Appraisals of Thomas's work highlight his distinctive, rhythmic, and inventive use of language and imagery. More recent critical editions have prompted deeper exploration of his unique modernist poetic style, moving beyond the distracting legend of the "doomed poet" he encouraged, and instead reinforcing his standing as a major 20th-century poet. His behaviour and public persona were marked by a reputation for roistering and drunkenness, which he actively fostered. This erratic conduct, alongside heavy drinking, worsened during his reading tours in the United States in the 1950s, where his performances brought him considerable fame. Ecologically, his work is deeply rooted in the landscapes of his Welsh upbringing, particularly the coastal and rural settings of Swansea and Carmarthenshire. His poetry and prose frequently evoke the natural world, as seen in works like "Fern Hill" and his recollections of summer holidays on farms, where he rode horses, chased pheasants, and fished for trout. His significance lies in his accessible yet complex use of language, which made him a popular figure during his lifetime and a lasting influence on modern poetry. His radio broadcasts for the BBC in the late 1940s, along with his readings, established him as a widely recognized literary voice, bridging the gap between high modernism and public appreciation.

Did You Know?

• Thomas was born on 27 October 1914 in Swansea, the son of Florence Hannah (a seamstress) and David John 'Jack' Thomas (a teacher).
• He had one sibling, Nancy Marles, who was eight years his senior.
• Thomas's father chose the name Dylan, which could be translated as 'son of the sea' after a character in The Mabinogion.
• His middle name, Marlais, was given in honour of his great-uncle, a Unitarian minister and poet whose bardic name was Gwilym Marles.
• Thomas had bronchitis and asthma in childhood and struggled with these throughout his life.

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