Dylan Thomas

1914–1953 · Wales

The best-read Welsh poet in history; wrote about childhood, death and the Welsh landscape.

Thomas was a child prodigy who published his first book at nineteen. He lived in London during the Blitz, worked for the BBC, and became a celebrity reader of his own work, with a voice famous enough to be recognised on radio.

He died in New York on a reading tour at thirty-nine, reportedly from alcohol-related causes. The image of the doomed, romantic poet has clung to his reputation ever since, though it obscures how carefully crafted his work is.

Style

Verbal density — every line is packed with polysyllables and internal echoes.
Forms inherited from English and Welsh tradition — villanelle, sestina, ode.
Sound as much as sense: the music of the line is often the point.
Childhood memory as a source of both comfort and terror.