Dylan Thomas

[E.A Rumfield]

Is he worth reading? And if so what book?

[Silvia]

My answer to the first question is yes. He has become one of my favourite poets since reading "Fern Hill". I think his best known poems are "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" and "Fern Hill". He was mainly a poet, but he wrote some prose as well, short stories, which I like very much. He also wrote a play, if I remember correctly.I'm glad he never wrote a novel, though. I can't help you as far as the second question is concerned, because the titles of collections of poems/short stories (I read his prose in the Italian translation) that I have here don't coincide with the ones in English.

[kev67]

Under Milk Wood is his most famous work. It's like a long poem or play for voices.

[OrphanPip]

Dylan Thomas is one of those interesting figures who seems to be undergoing a waning reputation in academia, but he remains popular in the UK.

That being said, "Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night" will probably survive as the most famous villanelle in the English language. I haven't read him much though, only selections of poetry here and there.

[Emil Miller]

You might care to read his short stories in the volume Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog. I read it years ago but don't recall much about it except that, at the time, I was impressed by a couple of the stories: they are mainly about adolescence.

[Charles Darnay]

I recommend any book on poetry of his that you can find. I think his shorter poems are better than the longer ones, but in general, he is an amazing and (with the exception of "Do Not Go Gentle") an overlooked poet.

[kev67]

I didn't know he was that neglected. I thought he was still one of the more famous poets.

Interestingly, he seems to be the favourite poet of ex-President Jimmy Carter. I read an interview (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/11/president-jimmy-carter-interview) in The Guardian a while back, in which, among other things, he talked about a poem called:

A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child, in London

That intrigued me, so I looked it up. However, I didn't really get the point Dylan Thomas was trying to make. I think you'd need an extensive religious education understand it properly.

[paradoxical]

Dylan is a fine poet and definitely worth reading. I have his Collected Poems. I think my favorite is "The force that through the green fuse drives the flower".

I also read one of his short stories entitled "A Child's Christmas in Wales" and thought it was a wonderful story.

[bluosean]

You might try his recordings. I bought this way back in the day and I still listen to it quite often. They can probably even be found for less than on Amazon. If I remember correctly there is 18 hours of Dylan Thomas reading his poetry (as well as that of others including Auden, Pound, Milton, and Shakespeare) and him as one of the players in his play Under Milk Wood. This is the only recording of Under Milk Wood that has Thomas as one of the cast.

http://www.amazon.com/Dylan-Thomas-The-Caedmon-Collection/dp/0060790830/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1346538370&sr=8-6&keywords=dylan+thomas

I have never read any of his poetry besides Fern Hill. I may some day but for now this is fine. What I like is that it is nice to listen to poetry sometimes instead of always reading it.

[E.A Rumfield]

If you have ever seen the movie Before Sunrise one of the main characters mentions probably that tape, Dylan Thomas reading a W H Auden poem. I wonder what that poem was. O let time not deceive you. You cannot conquer time.

[hallaig]

'As I walked out one evening', it's called. Love Dylan Thomas, maybe more for the fact he was Welsh and lived a poet's life, than for his poetry which is sometimes overblown to say the least. There are classics, though, as earlier comments illustrate.

[Lokasenna]

I've always loved Thomas' own reading of Do Not Go Gentle. His voice always sends shivers down my spine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyWiE1vNSxU

[JBI]

Under Milk Wood is his most famous work. It's like a long poem or play for voices.

Radio play, which was a popular format at the time - BBC still puts them out regularly but I am not sure how popular they are.

As for whether you will like him - poetic preference is very personal. Everyone has to evaluate for themselves - he is already a staple, so his reputation is sealed - you need not rely on that to decide whether to like him or not though.

[Alexander III]

Clown In the Moon

My tears are like the quiet drift
Of petals from some magic rose;
And all my grief flows from the rift
Of unremembered skies and snows.

I think, that if I touched the earth,
It would crumble;
It is so sad and beautiful,
So tremulously like a dream.



If you liked that then you will defiantly like his work, personally I find that second stanza to be utterly sublime.

[hallaig]

Hardly typical, though. He wrote that when he was 14, and you can tell!