Dylan Marlais Thomas was born at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive, Uplands, Swansea, Wales on 27 October 1914. He is widely regarded by many literary scholars as one of the Twentieth Century's most influential lyrical poets, and amongst the finest as such of all time. His acclaim is partly due to the idiosyncratic and surreal introspection which was his hallmark. His imagery is said to be brilliant and inspirational. Although Dylan was primarily a poet, he also published film scripts, short stories, publicly performed his works and conducted radio broadcasts; one of his most famous works, "Under Milk Wood" - set in a fictional Welsh seaside town - was a radio play for voices which contained a poetic sensibility. His most famous poem is arguably, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night - containing the line, "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" - an impassioned account of the scene which haunted him at his father's deathbed. In less than a year following this event, Thomas himself collapsed in New York, and consumed by  alcoholic poisoning, died shortly afterwards. Throughout his life, Thomas experienced a profound melancholy which was the catalyst to his alcohol abuse; decades later the same affected Welsh actor Richard Burton who essentially suffered the same fate.

Cwmdonkin Park today

Thomas's childhood was a happy one, of which he spoke nostalgically in his work, "A Child's Christmas In Wales". His window view provided a splendid panorama of Swansea Bay, a scene which no doubt influenced his early poems of place, such as "The Hill of Sea and Sky is Carried". As an adult, Dylan recalled magical holidays to his father's birthplace, Fernhill farm, which also became the subject of one of his later poems. At the age of almost nine, Dylan Marlais Thomas was enrolled at Swansea Grammar School, where his father David John Thomas worked as senior English Master. Part of the original campus remains and has been integrated into the present day campus of Swansea Institute of Higher Education. At school, Dylan wrote poetry for the school newspaper, and graduated to editor status. Upon leaving school in August 1931, the young writer was fortunate to land a cub reporter's job with the South Wales Daily Post newspaper, adjacent to Swansea Castle. His life in Swansea was a self indulgent one - he would take coffee with his artistic pals at the Kardoma Cafe (sadly destroyed by W.W.II bombs), idled in the sands of Swansea Bay, watched films at Uplands Cinema (now Lloyds Bank), watched cricket at St Helen's rugby & cricket stadium, and spent long hours in pubs such as the Uplands Tavern and the Antelope in Mumbles (both still exist). It is said that Thomas was attracted by Swansea's old docklands, on the less fashionable side of town, for the opportunity to indulge in sexual sin, rather than for the journalistic copy he should have been more industriously preoccupied with! Ironically, Dylan's statue is situated in Swansea Maritime Quarter, once part of the former docks, which is considered today as the pinnacle of fashion and good taste! Closer to his home, Cwmdonkin Park continued to foster a "love of tender kinship for the face of the earth", in George Eliot's words.

In March 1933 history was made by the New English Weekly, a poetry publication, which became the first to print one of Dylan's works, "And Death Shall Have No Dominion". In order to further his career, he moved to London in 1934 to share a flat with two Swansea artist pals. Dylan's nostalgia for his Swansea childhood was first kindled at this time, consistent with the popular sentiment - "You can take the boy out of Wales, but you can't take Wales out of the boy"!

In London, Dylan quickly secured the publishing deals he craved: the work "Eighteen Poems" soon followed, and he achieved immediate acclaim. Later in 1936, his second volume, "Twenty Five Poems" was produced. Thomas insisted that he could only write poetry in Wales and returned to the land of his birth in 1938, taking with him a wife - Caitlin Macnamara. When they met, in April 1936, she was a lover of Augustus John - one of the Swansea painters Dylan shared his London flat with. After the poet's wedding, the couple settled in the pretty Carmarthenshire, west Wales, village of Laugharne; near the castle and overlooking an expansive estuary. This reunited the author with treasured boyhood memories - the couple later purchased the "Boathouse", a quaint 1830's building situated above the jetty where Dylan's ferry used to port.

Together, Dylan and Caitlin produced three children - Llewellyn in 1939, Aeronwy born in 1946 and Colm born 1949. Their relationship was sometimes tempestuous, partly due to Thomas's philandering and drunkenness, partly due to his absence, and in no small part to their occasional periods of poverty. Arising from financial necessity, the poet's creative pursuits diversified - there was much money to be made from broadcasting, which he conducted from the BBC Wales Swansea studios in Alexandra Road and from London, between 1937 and his death in 1953. Thomas published some film scripts late in his career, including "The Doctor and the Devils", which had been written while engaged for the Strand Film Company. Forty years after his death, BBC Wales produced a film which the writer had conceived, but failed to finish, "Rebecca's Daughters". This was a comedy based on the "Rebecca riots" - a 19th Century rebellion of Welsh country folk who objected to the road tolls imposed by wealthy land owners.  Many works of poetry continued to be authored by Dylan Thomas - including books such as "The Map of Love", "New Poems", "In Country Sleep" and "The World I Breathe" - Dylan's first published work in the U.S. He also continued to write short stories, including the autobiographical sketches collected for "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog" (1940) and "Adventures in the Skin Trade" (published posthumously in 1954).

The poet's body was brought home to Wales, and a simple white cross marks his grave in St. Martin's church at his beloved village of Laugharne. In 1954, Caitlin left the Laugharne Boathouse for Italy, which held happy memories of when the couple had stayed in Elba during 1947. When she died in 1994, Caitlin's body was also returned to Laugharne, and was buried alongside Dylan's. In 1971, a film of "Under Milk Wood" was made on location in Fishguard, Wales; it starred Welsh actor  Richard Burton as the narrator, Peter O'Toole and Elizabeth Taylor. The Dylan Thomas Festival which celebrates the life and work of this extraordinary Welshman, is held every October in Swansea, Wales. Poetry readings, lectures, workshops, art, films and discussions are conducted in Dylan's name - he'd have been highly bemused - and would've had plenty of characteristically wry observations to make..! Mick Jagger's film company  starts production on a major motion picture concerning Dylan's stormy relationship with Caitlin.

"A bombastic adolescent provisional bohemian with a thick dash knotted artists tie made out of his sisters scarf . . . and a cricket-shirt dyed bottle green; a gabbing , ambitious, mock-tough, pretentious young man; and mole-y too" - Dylan describes himself in "The Return Journey"

Dylan Thomas Festival  -  Swansea, Wales  (Oct 27 - Nov 9 annually)

Dylan's Bookstore  -  Salubrious Passage, Swansea  

Uplands Tavern  -  Dylan's favourite Welsh pub 

Dylan Thomas biography  -  BBC s.w.Wales online 

Dylan Thomas website  -  from the BBC in Wales  

  Poems of Dylan Thomas   -  collection of Dylan's most celebrated work