Dylan thomas biography timeline templates

1950 was a seminal year in the life of the “last rock star poet,” Dylan Thomas (October 27, 1914 –November 9, 1953).  On February 20th of that year the much-celebrated Welsh poet arrived in New York to begin what would be the most exhilarating yet grueling period of his career. The period between 1950 and 1953 was dominated by four trips to America. The Swansea writer traveled to New York  after being invited by fellow poet John Malcolm Brinnin, who subsequently acted as his promoter.  He worked extremely hard through an exhausting schedule across the United States of poetry readings and lectures that were punctuated by countless lunches, dinners, parties, and receptions, where he was expected to behave as “the great poet” and to entertain the masses.  Much of that time was, of course, spent in Greenwich Village.

A prodigy who became a living legend, Thomas was the first poet to be magnified by celebrity culture – his words, voice, image and private life were broadcast on an international scale through the 20th Century’s new media of radio, television, film and audio recordings.  “Dylan Thomas’s voice has added a new dimension to literary history,” the New York Times raved when he launched his U.S. reading tour. “He will surely be remembered as the first in modern literature to be both a maker and speaker of poetry… the typical reader will become entranced after hearing him recite.” As a result of the wide success of his tours, Thomas became an international celebrity.  “He was the first,” says Philip Levine, a former U.S. Poet Laureate honored with the Pulitzer, the National Book Award, and multiple National Book Critics Circle awards. “The idea of a tour was original. And he had the poetry to back it up. He had a profound influence. It was beneficial because it made us better readers. And giving readings became a huge source of income.”

Dylan Thomas’ 1950s U.

Biography[]

Dylan Marlais Thomas was born on October 27, 1914, in Swansea, South Wales. His father was an English Literature professor at the local grammar school and would often recite Shakespeare to Thomas before he could read. He loved the sounds of nursery rhymes. Although both of his parents spoke fluent Welsh, Thomas and his older sister never learned the language, and Thomas wrote exclusively in English. His main genres were: poetry, prose, radio plays, and screenplays.

Thomas was a neurotic, sickly child who shied away from school and preferred reading on his own. He read all of D. H. Lawrence‘s poetry, impressed by vivid descriptions of the natural world. Fascinated by language, he excelled in English and reading but neglected other subjects. He dropped out of school at sixteen to become a junior reporter for the South Wales Daily Post. Although he edited the school magazine, contributing poetry and prose to it, Thomas did badly at school since he was always intellectually lazy with regard to any subject that did not directly concern him.  Thomas began writing poetry as a child, publishing his work in school magazines.

By 1932, he left his job at the Post and decided to concentrate on his poetry full-time. It was during this time, in his late teens, that Thomas wrote more than half of his collected poems. He struggled a lot with several personal crisis mainly related to to love affairs, to industrial civilization, and to the youthful problems of finding one's identity."

Like James Joyce before him, Dylan Thomas was obsessed with words—with their sound and rhythm and especially with their possibilities for multiple meanings.

In 1934, when Thomas was twenty, he moved to London, won the Poet’s Corner book prize, and published his first book, 18 Poems (The Fortune press), to great acclaim. During this period of success, Thomas also began a habit of alcohol abuse.

In 1940, With his asthma Dylan managed to avoid military ser