Dylan Thomas
Welsh poet and writer known for 'Do not go gentle into that good night' and Under Milk Wood
Dylan Marlais Thomas, a Welsh poet and writer, was born on 27 October 1914 and died at age 39 in New York City.[1][2] Among Thomas's writings are the poems "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "And death shall have no dominion", plus the "play for voices" titled Under Milk Wood.[1]
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Dylan Marlais Thomas
- Born
- 27 October 1914
- Birthplace
- Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom
- Died
- 9 November 1953
- Place of death
- New York City, US
- Resting place
- Laugharne, Wales, United Kingdom
- Occupation
- Poet, writer
- Spouse
- Caitlin Macnamara, 11 July 1937
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
In 1934, Thomas's first book, 18 Poems, was published by Fortune Press after poet Victor Neuburg arranged for its publication.[3] Florence Hannah, a seamstress, and David John Thomas, a teacher, were the parents of Dylan Thomas, who was born in Swansea in 1914.[4][5] In 1932 Thomas ended his schooling and started work as a reporter for the South Wales Daily Post.[5] While still a teenager, Thomas saw many of the roughly 200 poems he created from 1931 to 1935 published.[5]
Though the New Apocalyptics, a group of English poets, hailed Thomas as their "poetic herald" in the late 1930s, he declined to join them.[6][7] Margaret Taylor bought The Boat House in Laugharne, to which the Thomas family relocated in May 1949.[8] Critics have remarked on Thomas's inventive, rhythmic, and skillful employment of words and imagery.[9]
What the cited sources add
A teenage Dylan Thomas was a talented athlete who won the mile event in 1928 during Swansea Grammar School's annual sports day, and he carried a newspaper cutting of his victory with him until his death.[10] Alessandro Gallenzi discovered that as a schoolboy Thomas plagiarised other poets' work, finding at least a dozen examples where Thomas copied wholesale from work published in other magazines.[11] Gallenzi's editor Alex Middleton first made the discovery after they were given access to one of only two known complete collections of Thomas's school magazine.[11] The plagiarised work now finds its place in an appendix to the forthcoming collection Dylan Thomas - The Complete Poems.[11]
References
- Wikipedia, "Dylan Thomas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ferris 1985, p. vii (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Dylan Thomas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Did hard-living or medical neglect kill Dylan Thomas?", BBC, 8 November 2013; "The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales", University of Wales Press, 2008, p. 861–862 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Dylan Thomas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Obsolete Spells: Poems & Prose from Victor Neuburg & the Vine Press", MIT Press, 2022; "Neuburg, Victor", Gale Research, 1991, p. 1171; "Neuburg, Victor", Gale Research, 1991, p. 1171; "Neuburg, Victor", Gale Research, 1991, p. 1171; "Obsolete Spells: Poems & Prose from Victor Neuburg & the Vine Press", MIT Press, 2022; Williams, "Model Publisher or Pirate?", Hand + Star, 29 November 2010 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Dylan Thomas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: FitzGibbon 1965, p. 10–11; Ferris, "Thomas, Dylan Marlais (1914–1953) (subscription needed)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edition, 2004 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Dylan Thomas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Goodby, "Dylan Thomas", Reaktion Books, 2024, p. 63 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Dylan Thomas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jackaman, "The Course of English Surrealist Poetry Since The 1930s", Edwin Mellen Press, 1989, p. 188 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Open Library record, ISBN 9780889469327 ("The course of English surrealist poetry since the 1930s"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
- Wikipedia, "Dylan Thomas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ferris 1989, p. 17; Goodby, "Dylan Thomas", Reaktion Books, 2024, p. 138; Dylan and Cailtin in South Leigh; Goodby, "Dylan Thomas", Reaktion Books, 2024, p. 153; Davies, James (1987) Dylan Thomas's Places: A Biographical and Literary Guide. Swansea: Christopher Davies. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Dylan Thomas" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Morton, "Notes on the imagery of Dylan Thomas", English Studies, 1 January 1962, p. 155–164; Tindall 1996, p. 18; Moynihan, William T., "Dylan Thomas and the "Biblical Rhythm"", PMLA, 1964, p. 631–647; The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas: The New Centenary Edition. Ed. with Introduction and annotations by John Goodby. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2014; Goodby, "Dylan Thomas", Reaktion Books, 2024, p. 10, 187 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Turner, "A teenage Dylan Thomas 'was very athletic and loved running'", Wales Online, 26 June 2013. facts only, no text reused. walesonline.co.uk
- Duffy, "Dylan Thomas 'plagiarised other poets' repeatedly as schoolboy", BBC News, 8 January 2026. facts only, no text reused. bbc.co.uk
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Dylan Thomas (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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