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Dylan Thomas'
poem about himself:
One: I am a Welshman;
two: I am a drunkard;
three: I am a lover of the
human race, especially
of women."

dylandrink

Fern Hill

Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
The night above the dingle starry,
Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
Trail with daisies and barley
Down the rivers of the windfall light.

And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns
About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,
In the sun that is young once only,
Time let me play and be
Golden in the mercy of his means,
And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calves
Sang to my horn, the foxes on the hills barked clear and cold,
And the sabbath rang slowly
In the pebbles of the holy streams.

All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay
Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys, it was air
And playing, lovely and watery
And fire green as grass.
And nightly under the simple stars
As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the farm away,
All the moon long I heard, blessed among stables, the nightjars
Flying with the ricks, and the horses
Flashing into the dark.

And then to awake, and the farm, like a wanderer white
With the dew, come back, the cock on his shoulder: it was all
Shining, it was Adam and maiden,
The sky gathered again
And the sun grew round that very day.
So it must have been after the birth of the simple light
In the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses walking warm
Out of the whinnying green stable
On to the fields of praise.

And honoured among foxes and pheasants by the gay house
Under the new made clouds and happy as the heart was long,
In the sun born over and over,
I ran my heedless ways,
My wishes raced through the house high hay
And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows
In all his tuneful turning so few and such morning songs
Before the children green and golden
Follow him out of grace.

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,
Nor that riding to sleep
I should hear him fly with the high fields
And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land.
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.

 

Dylan Thomas

Dylan Marlais Thomas was born in Swansea, Wales, on October 27,1914. He is widely regarded as one of the 20th Century's most influential lyrical poets.

Thomas was a neurotic, sickly child who shied away from school and enjoyed reading on his own. He read all of D. H. Lawrence's poetry. Fascinated by language, he excelled in English and reading, but neglected other subjects and dropped out of school at 16. His first book, "Eighteen Poems," was published to great acclaim when he was 20. His reading tours in the U.S. did much to popularize poetry reading as a new medium for the art. He was flamboyantly theatrical and became legendary for his roaring public disputes and the boisterousness of his life.

Although Thomas was primarily a poet, he also published film scripts, short stories, publicly performed his works and conducted radio broadcasts. Thomas died of alcohol poisoning at New York's Chelsea Hotel. He died at the age of 39. His most famous poem, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," contained the line, "Rage, rage against the dying of the light."


Selected works by the author:

  • "A Child's Christmas in Wales and Five Poems"
  • "Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas 1934-1952," anthology, poetry

  • "Collected Stories," anthology, fiction
  • "Dylan Thomas: The Caedmon Collections"
  • "Dylan Thomas: The Complete Screenplays," anthology, drama
  • "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog," memoirs
  • "The Love Letters of Dylan Thomas," letters
  • "Under Milk Wood," drama, poetry.

Dylan Thomas-inspired works:
John Corigliano's "Dylan Thomas
Choral Symphony" based on 3 Thomas poems: "Fern Hill" (1945), "Poem in October" (1945), and "Poem on His Birthday" (1951). The symphony was first performed in 1976; A 1990 biographical film directed by Anthony Hopkins (in his directorial debut), for British TV; many actors' groups still
perform "Under the Milkwood."