Dylan Thomas

1. Dylan Thomas 1914-1953

2.  �When one burns one's bridges, what a very nice fire it makes.� �Dylan Thomas �A big baby who�ll destroy every last thing he can get his hands on, including himself� -Truman Capote speaking on Dylan Thomas.

3. Biography October 17, 1914 born in Swansea, South Wales. Literary family: Both father and great-uncle were poets. Began writing his own poetry at age nine. Published his work around the age of eleven in his school�s literary magazine. talented writer only subject he excelled in was English.

4. Biography 1931: left school became a writer for The South Wales Evening Post he was eventually fired 1934: published his first book of poetry entitled 18 Poems. 1936: met Caitlin Macnamara in a London Pub a physically strong, trained dancer with a fiery and unpredictable temper

5. Caitlin Within hours of their first meeting: Dylan, his head in her lap, kept drunkenly insisting that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever met and that he was going to marry her she offered no objections. Found him sweet, (if a bit needy) Thomas was wed in 1937. He had three children, LLewelyn (1939), Aeron (1940), and Colm (1949).

6. World War II (1939-1945) Had to find work writer's work or face conscription, began his work writing and reading for radio in earnest. desire to avoid being drafted into the armed forces, not so much cowardice on his part a complete lack of any patriotic or political interest or emotion. found the idea of war ridiculous knew he could never bring himself to kill another man. The night before he was to face his conscription tribunal: attempted to sway things in his favor by drinking so heavily that by the next day he was sweating, shaking, pale and covered in blotches. He was given an exemption on medical grounds. boasted of "getting away" with it. Offended families that had been watching their sons, brothers, fathers and husbands march off to war and die for their country. Made him so unpopular that he and Caitlin eventually left their home town.

7. Troubles 1941 marriage starts to falter Caitlin was almost unfaithful to him The very thought that she �could� be unfaithful sent him into despair and they all but lost trust in one another. 1945 infamous incident An ex-commando neighbor nearly killed them Fired 20 rounds into their house Threatened to �blow them up� with a grenade

8. U.S. Tour 1946: popularity explodes, becomes more withdrawn as his fame grows 1949: gets an offer to tour the U.S. 1950 and 1952: Thomas toured America reading his poetry to make money. Captivated audiences, but most of the American literary elite put off by his outlandish offstage behavior Lewd comments Relieving himself publicly Partied with Shelley Winters, Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplain Crashed a car into Chaplain�s tennis court�among other things.

9. Into �That Good Night� October 19, 1953: traveled to New York for his final tour left his family behind essentially just a huge excuse for a two month drinking extravaganza. November 3, 1953: drinking binge: consumed �18 straight whiskies�, became ill. He died on six days later. Thomas�s final words were, "After 39 years, this is all I've done". The coroner listed the cause of death as pneumonia and pressure on the brain.

10. Poetry

11. Style immediately accessible. combines technical skill with thoughtful reflections on life�s complexities. personal and evocative, while also addressing larger themes of life, death, and the passing of time. his poetry also can combine poignancy with a surprising intensity. �Old age should burn and rave at close of day; / Rage, rage against the dying of the light,� Thomas writes, thinking of his dying father (�Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night,� lines 2-3). language can be both ironic and disturbing

12. �Fern Hill� Summary: Thomas remembers childhood days spent at his aunt�s farmhouse and meditates on death and the passing of time. Themes: The freedom of childhood the passing of time the poignancy of youthful memories recollected in adulthood the loss of innocence and lack of joy from adult life the presence of death in life.

13. �Fern Hill� In �Fern Hill� Thomas draws upon his youthful experiences at his aunt�s home in the Welsh countryside while he contemplates the passage of time. How does Thomas envisions childhood? What kind of mood does Thomas establish? How does the repetition of certain colors (green, gold, and white) add to the overall effect of the poem? Note also the way in which the landscape, sounds, colors, and animals mingle and merge with the speaker�s entire being.

14. �Fern Hill� A different tone and perspective appears in the fifth stanza: �And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows . . . so few and such morning songs / Before the children green and golden / Follow him out of grace� (lines 42-45). The language, sound, and rhythm of these lines are repeated in the last stanza: �Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would take me / Up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my hand, / In the moon that is always rising� (lines 45-48). the narrator is no longer merely recollecting his boyhood days, but noticing the difference between his adult and his youthful awareness. As an adult, time takes the �shadow� of the child�now just a memory�back to those recollected scenes, yet the perspective has changed.

15. �Fern Hill� Seen through the lens of his adult consciousness, green takes on bittersweet connotations, suggestion of loss or death perhaps the recognition that even in life we are always nearing death or that the loss of childish pleasures is unavoidable. Here, the farm is not just momentarily borne away: it will never return. The adult narrator imagines himself as �wak[ing]� to a world without childhood memories waking to an absence or void: emotional emptiness. last lines, he says, �Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means, / Time held me green and dying / Though I sang in my chains like the sea,� we see the speaker�s childhood retrospectively, not from the earlier perspective (lines 52-54). Even as a child, he seems to be saying, he was dying, as we all are, because we are bound by time.

16. �Fern Hill� Key Passages: �As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the farm away,� line 24 �Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would take me / Up to the swallow thronged loft by the shadow of my hand,� lines 46-47 �Time held me green and dying / Though I sang in my chains like the sea,� lines 53-54.

17. �Do Not Go Gentle�� close relationship with his father daily visits to discuss his work and relax by doing crossword puzzles and talking. The ailing D.J. Thomas died on December 16, 1952 at the age of 76, with his son holding his hand. Per his father�s wishes, his body was cremated: traumatic experience for Dylan. He was told that his father's head had exploded in the oven and he ended up becoming violently ill when the wind shifted and started blowing the oven's smoke in his direction. He asked his wife to ensure that "nothing like that ever happens to me".

18. Multimedia: Dylan Thomas Reading "Do not go gentle..� Rodney Dangerfield in "Back to School"