Biography
Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer known for works such as the poems "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "And death shall have no dominion," the 'play for voices' Under Milk Wood, and stories and radio broadcasts including "A Child's Christmas in Wales" and "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog." He gained widespread popularity during his lifetime and continued to be celebrated after his early death at 39 in New York City. By that time, he had cultivated a reputation as a "roistering, drunken and doomed poet."
Born in 1914 at the family home on Cwmdonkin Drive in the Uplands area of Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales, Thomas was an unremarkable student who left school at 16 to briefly work as a journalist. Many of his works were published while he was still a teenager, but it was his 1934 poem "Light breaks where no sun shines" that drew significant literary attention. While living in London, he met Caitlin Macnamara, whom he married in 1937. Their relationship was marked by alcoholism and mutual destructiveness. Early in their marriage, they lived hand-to-mouth and eventually settled in the Welsh fishing village of Laugharne (Talacharn) in Carmarthenshire.
During his life, Thomas was recognized as a popular poet, though making a living from writing proved challenging. To supplement his income, he embarked on reading tours and made radio broadcasts. His BBC radio recordings in the late 1940s increased his public profile, and he often represented the literary scene as a populist voice for the BBC.
Thomas first visited the United States in the 1950s, where his readings gained him considerable fame despite his worsening erratic behavior and drinking. His American visits helped solidify his legendary status, and he recorded works like "A Child's Christmas in Wales" on vinyl. On his fourth trip to New York in 1953, after a night at the White Horse Inn in Greenwich Village, he became seriously ill and fell into a coma, never regaining consciousness. He died on 9 November 1953 at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Greenwich Village. His body was returned to Wales and buried on 25 November 1953 in the churchyard of Laugharne, marked by a simple white wooden cross.
Though Thomas wrote solely in English, he is recognized as one of the most significant Welsh poets of the 20th century. He is celebrated for his original, rhythmic, and inventive use of language and imagery. His standing as a major modern poet has been widely debated, and he remains popular with readers.
