Dylan Thomas Books

This book contains the author's reminiscences of Eric Gill, George Orwell, Dylan Thomas and J. Middleton Murry; from it a fifth, and no less interesting personality emerges...that of Mr. Heppenstall himself.

206 pages

If you're reading this review you are probably already familiar with the poetry of Dylan Thomas, a lover of that poetry. You almost certainly wouldn't have found this book, otherwise.

The reason for reading the letters of Dylan Thomas have to lie behind the poetry, the desire to know the man. This book will give you a peek into his personal life, a respect for his approach to poetry, to people, to most of the sides of human interaction you can only guess at by reading the poetry.

I believe if you love the poetry of Dylan Thomas this book will make you happier for knowing a piece of that other side of him, the side known only to his most intimate friends.

I didn't buy this book. It was given to me by a friend who knew I love poetry and respected the poetry of Thomas. The book sat for a number of years on my bookshelf before I picked it up and began reading it when there seemed to be nothing else of interest. I read long into the night and finished it in a single burst.

I believe that's how you'll read it, too.

Poetry, perhaps, began its own demise with a stepping away from the common man, or with a fanciful idea that it must be high art comparable to the masters Shakespeare, Keats, the Brownings. What is often missed is that the language in which Shakespeare and these others wrote their work was the language of their day. Generations of lesser poets have tried to make poetry into something that it is not. As Ron Buck says in his foreword, a bloodline of myth, fantasy and abstract self indulgence has taken a seat in the halls of academic poetry.
Well, I am here to proclaim to all who will listen that this book, this collection of rejections from the prestigious literary world has come to return poetry back to the common man. It is not the same blue collar poetry of Charles Bukowski, but it is fine well crafted work much like Theodore Roethke and the open-road walking verse of Walt Whitman.
"Sanctuary" and "Hand-me-downs", the opening shots of this collection set the tone for the life of a coastal New Englander. The Harvard halls do not show up here, but the knife blade of an oyster farmer can be felt in your hand as it unhinges the shell and takes the meat in "Shucking".
Life is what Ron Buck brings to the table, and even an old Oklahoma cowboy or Indian like myself can see it, hear it, feel it, smell it, taste it in the words he has crafted as a fine carpenter planes, shapes and finishes wood for his project.
The book is poetry. It is art both visual and auditory; to hear Ron read is a whole other experience. It is formed, and it is free, not bound by the expectations of an academic class. It is the two by four framing of a house, the fine finish work of a cabinet maker, the weathered hands of a fisherman, the architectural eye of a landscaper and always, always it holds the heart of man and the mind of a philosopher twined together like like the climbing tendrils of a vining flower.
I own this book, and it sits proudly on the shelf with Dickey and Kooser and Komunyaaka. It has a place up there with Ken Nye and Lynn Doiron next to my volumes of Seamus Heaney and N. Scott Momaday, right up there with old Walt himself. When it comes right down to it, poetry should speak the truth as an individual sees it. That has always been what set the masters apart from the rest, not some preconceived idea established by robed and tasseled professors or lesser men with no understanding of humanity. Poetry is what moves us to be what we can become and to appreciate what we have been given. Ron Buck is a poet.

The notebook poems offers a real insight into the way Dylan Thomas wrote his poems. The notebook poems proves that Thomas wrote the majority of his poetry while being 17/18 years of age, which revolutionises the way we read and understand his poetry and allows us to put the poems into context. For anyone studying Thomas this is the most valuble source of information I have found yet, and has aided me in further understanding the true genius of Thomas' poetry.

Every artist, musician and writer needs to read this book. It is truly amazing and has influenced me for many years - from the firsttime I read it back in the early 80's. It is a teacher, a guide, aglimpse into the mind of one of the greatest poets of the 20thscentury. Dylan inspired a great many of the most acclaimed musicians,we know that... but what is not widely known is his influence onpainters and other artists. He is a treasure and his letters, thankGod, are here for us to learn from. I felt as though I was there withhim each day throughout all his struggles and the rare triumphs thatfollowed...

Written as a "play for voices" for the BBC, this historic audiotape features the all-Welsh cast of the original BBC production from 1954. Richard Burton is the First Voice, which connects all the characters, played by twenty-eight men, women, and children. With perfect diction and the sense of character which only a great actor can convey, Burton rolls his R's, modulates his voice in pitch and intensity, and makes Thomas's poetry come fully alive--full of alliteration and various kinds of rhyme, with nouns and adjectives used as verbs to convey action and sense impressions simultaneously, and always a wry humor and honesty of feeling.

Depicting one full day in the life of a small town in Wales, Thomas shows its motley residents as they awaken, perform their daily tasks, socialize, gossip, and daydream about the past that might have been and the future that may yet hold hope. When night falls and the residents retire, their losses and disappointments, along with their escapes into dreams, are given voice and poignancy. Polly Garter, with her numerous children by numerous fathers, dreams of Willie, a very small man who was the love of her life. Captain Cat, the blind bell-ringer, thinks of all the sailors he knew who died at sea. Mr. Pugh dreams of poisoning his wife, and young Gwenny, who has extorted pennies from the little boys who do NOT want to kiss her, plans for the next day and more pennies.

The sound effects provide context for the drama without overpowering the narrative--a cock's crow, the clip-clop of horses, the bark of dogs, footsteps, the sea, bell buoys--and simple songs add to the realism and the sense of character and place. A mournful tune performed by Polly Garter in a minor key, as she remembers Willie and compares him to her other lovers, is beautifully sung by Diana Maddox, her clear, bell-like voice and almost palpable sadness making her one of the most memorable of the characters. A humorous children's singing game, sung by local school children, gives added realism, and little Gwenny's song to three very young boys is delightfully cheeky. Both enchanting and historically important, this memorable recording is worth seeking through Used sites or through amazon.co.uk--the best recording ever made of this wonderful "play for voices." Mary Whipple

If you're into this Welsh bard's poems, then this is the collection for you, because durn near everything is in here, but after a decade of trying, I'll admit, I can't make up from down in these poems, and I can read almost anything.

This collection showcases Thomas' best work. I am always amazed by how few people know nothing by Thomas but "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" If you are interested in fabulous poetry filled with mystery and beauty this is a wonderful book to start with.

Dylan Thomas - Collected Poems is a brief book. It contains poems which, according to a short introductory note by Thomas, he considered important works in his career as a poet. The poems span Thomas' career from 1934-1952 and include those for which he is best known - "Do not go gentle into that good night", "And death shall have no dominion", and "After the funeral". The poems were selected by Thomas in 1952, one year before his untimely death.

The collection starts with a prologue in verse, a lyrical piece filled with beautiful natural imagery. While much of the poetry in the book deals with death and the persistence of life in unflinching terms, the beauty of Wales and its countryside seeps through in many of Thomas' poems. His poetry, in blank verse, draws on natural imagery, train-of-consciousness techniques and unusual metaphors to paint a picture, or rather, give vague substance to an idea or feeling without providing clear definition. It is only occasionally, as in "The hand that signed the paper", or "This bread I break" that his meaning is clear and easy to follow. These poems are not for the lazy mind to enjoy on a summer's day. They are challenging both mentally and emotionally. Apparently, Thomas held an immortalist view of life and believed in the perseverance of the human spirit but he seems, in these poems, to be struggling with the idea of death. He's probably not the best poet to read when depressed. If you are expecting a set of poems along the lines of "A child's Christmas in Wales" you may be disappointed with this. Occasional flashes of romantic lyricism shine in poems such as "A poem in October" or "Fern Hill" but the tone is mostly somber.

If I have a quibble with this book it is not with the poetry but with the edition. The book is entirely bare of any explanatory notes, footnotes, or references. There is a brief (one paragraph) note by the author at the start and a longer note by Vernon Watkins at the end describing the incomplete state of "Elegy" but nothing at all in between. While this allows one to enjoy the poetry in its raw state, Thomas's metaphors are often unusual to the point of inscrutability. Some background and definition of obscure and Welsh terms would seem necessary for full enjoyment of the poems. If you really want to understand Thomas' work you will be forced to do further research. If you just want to let the poetry wash over you then this is a great book by a truly great poet.

There are great lines and even great poems in the work of Dylan Thomas. "Do not go gentle into that good night, Rage rage against the dying of the light" " And Death Shall have no Dominion" Into the Zion of the water- bead and the synagogue of the ear of corn" And there is a music and power in his poems unsurpassed, especially when he is reading them. His life in a sense conformed to the image of a romantic poet, wild and raging and dissolute and self- destructive . He drank himself to death. And yet in his short life he managed to produce a handful of poems which are present in almost every anthology of modern poetry, canonical poems of great power and beauty.

The question is, do you get this book for cheap, or the brand new POEMS OF DYLAN THOMAS [WITH CD] for not cheap. That depends on your wallet and your love of Thomas.

If you are new to Thomas, perhaps coming here intrigued after reading the often-anthologized "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night," I heartily recommend this book. These are all the poems Thomas wanted to live on in his name. They are excellent across the board, with a lot that I personally really loved. Thomas in some ways reminds me of Auden or Yeats (or even Blake) in terms of his mysticism and commitment to sound and form. I also think of Poe, who is often criticized by literary types, but much loved by the general public. There's a reason Thomas is popular. Even his most fantastical lines have a way of resonating. Many are unforgettable:

"Your mouth, my love, the thistle in the kiss?"

For those who already know they love Thomas, the new book + CD is a worthy investment. There's nothing wrong with this one though. It fits in a (coat) pocket and contains everything Thomas wanted, plus the posthumous "Elegy." It is tragic he died young, but he left some great work behind. This is it in a nutshell. Highly recommended, 5/5 stars.

How late I learned the essential things in life! In my childhood, nailed to the Gemara, I led the life of a sage, and it was only later, when I was older, that I began to climb trees"
So we have the image of Babel the pale scholarly youth with 'spectacles on his nose and autumn in his heart" He after Chekhov is the great Russian short story writer.
Babel's greatness as a short-story is related to his realistic precision, and observational power. He sees often it seems into the heart of his characters with an objective and penetrating eye. He portrays soul- wrenching scenes of great violence, deprivation with a kind of detached objectivity. His stories like those of Chekhov perhaps like those of Russian writers especially often involve incidents of great cruelty.
It is interesting that the opening story tells of an eighty-six year old old-time Jew who living with his son and daughter- in law.The son is about to adopt the new faith of the Revolution.The old man realizing that he will have no place in the new order hangs himself- an act which Babel portrays as an act of courage and faith in God. And this while it seems to me showing a certain regrettable contempt for the Torah world to which the old man is bound.
Babel's early stories , the childhood tales of which the most famous is 'On a Dovecote'already have his characteristic realistic precision. The stories which make him most known , "The Red Cavalry " stories in which he tells of the Cossacks he rode with are another important part of the oeuvre.Here there is felt especially the great division in Babel between the world of power and physical force, and a kind sensitive inner life.Then there are the Odessa stories of Benya Krik, the world of Jewish gangsters, and of a colorful and yet cruel life once again precisely observed.
The tale of Babel's later years when under the shadow and threat of Stalin he spoke of himself writing 'in the genre of silence', and of his being murdered is the tale of a great writer cut down too soon.
We don't have all the stories we might have from this great master. But what we do have are the axe which breaks through the icy soul within.

There is little more I can say about this astonishing piece of work that has not already been said, but I will add my piece in the hope that it will encourage more people to read what is a genuinely important piece of writing.
Buy this book to appreciate Babel's portrayal of real and raw emotion, his comprehensive understanding of human character, his sparse, tight writing style that is both painfully lucid and beautifully poetic.

The one new thing I think has to be said is a defence of the picture on the front. What has to be understood is why this picture is there and why it looks the way it does; The cheek and mouth are sticking out that way for a very good reason! My only advice is to say if you do not know the full story don't comment on it. In any case, this is a wonderful, life-changing book that needs to be read by everyone.

Reviewers on Amazon tend to self-select; I've noticed that people (including myself) seem more willing to write reviews of books they loved than of books they disliked. This makes sense; I usually don't even finish reading a book I strongly dislike.

But I had to read this book for a class. It was possibly my least favorite work of literature that I have ever read. Babel's writing is sparse, dry, and frequently cryptic; often I struggled to figure out what was actually going on in the stories. I also found his characters opaque and mysterious, and not in a good way. And all his stories are gloomy, and apt to induce misery in an unsuspecting reader. Babel's writing is rich with layers of meaning, but its about as enjoyable to crack as a caluculus textbook. The difficulty I encountered in reading this book just made Russia seem insurmountably foreign to me. Instead of serving as a bridge to another culture, this book aroused a feeling of alienation in me.

I will not be so presumptuous as to say that Babel is a bad writer. But I must attest that Babel is not for everyone. On my scale--1 star.

Reading Babel is no picnic in the park. His words are often hard to understand, let alone relish. In Red Cavalry, as he evokes heartrending scenes of torture, deprivation, and corruption, it is often hard to read without almost begging the author for a point of view, a call to arms. Yet in his sharp, vivid--yet terse, accounts (somewhat naturalistic as characters succumb to the hideous corollaries of civil stife--hunger, unbridled violence, senseless cruelty, inhumanity) his compact, frugal stories are never sentetious or tendetious.

The Odessa Tales, the second part of his ouevre, is nearer and dearer to my heart. Immediately, I fell in love with a rabbi's narration of mythical gangster hero Benya Krik. Benya, a Jewish thug with a code of values, who no doubt has the power to empower the young minds of Jewish boys, commands respect as a charismatic desperado, so alien to the preconceptions of Jews as victims and middle-class pushovers, always dependent on the mercy of the ruling elite. Benya wends his way around authorities--whether monarchist or Bolshevik, not only marching to the beat of a different drum, but subjugating others to the beat. Scenes of Odessa, my hometown, are sumptuous though sparing in descriptions of wealthy and lowly merchants, sailors, criminals, and lackeys.

Having read these and other stories in Russian, I look forward to reading the translation in hopes of better understanding them in my adopted tongue. Babel is not the most facile read, but an important and long ignored voice in the Soviet literary canon. Enjoy.

A superbly written insider's look at the Russian revolution. Babel can convey the horrors of war with very few words. I enjoyed the best his sarcastic treatement of the bombastic communist rhetoric in such stories as "Salt" and "Treason" (maybe because I was exposed to it myself at one time).

The richness of his words create wonderfully clear pictures in your mind. He takes you "there", wherever "there" is, with effortless ease.

What a great treasure! Here you have Dylan Thomas and that incomparable voice of his all together in one spectacularly priced collection.

Never have I heard anyone able to express emotion and feeling with their voice like Dylan Thomas does. The only one who comes close is Richard Burton.

Buy it. Sit back. Relax and be carried away by the sheer beauty and power of one man's words and voice.

It sounds like Dylan Thomas is in the room. His voice is clear. Poems are fabulous. Introductions are informative and interesting.

Excellent cd series.
Thomas' pipe-organ voice resonates on every track.
His wit and humor pushes the envelope for its time. Bobby socksers,the hang-over of those early Cold War years,post war America full of booms and busts and Levit-towns. Picture too a staid America, the 1950s campus life just before "the Cool" hit, before the Folk revival scene, pre Beats.

Now enter the mop-headed Welsh bard replete with his double entendre openings to audiences. Audiences who are mostly undergrads and academics. Thomas has them laughing in all the right places ... its poetry without a laugh track or safety net.

The readings are good, the explantions sometimes meandering but always enjoyable and highly listenable.

Recommend this to any school teachers, lovers of poetry, Britophiles, students... with a willingness to sit back, listen and have a master of the craft weave vistas of Welsh seaside villages, lush countrysides, closed gray coal pits, lecherous and harmless characters and everywhere there are forests to see for the trees.

No other poet I know of -reads his own poetry as well as does Dylan Thomas.
There is the rich melliflousness and the booming strength- there is the mystery of the sounded word made musical. There is too the dramatic play and fun of a large childlike soul , suddenly sad and then in an instant mockingly critical.
Poetry is the deepest expression of feeling in words.
In this sense Thomas is an especially poet , whose poems can be felt not only when read in silence, but most especially when sounded by his own majestic and magnificent voice.

I am reviewing the text which I just read, not the radio broadcast which I heard once a few years ago. The text of course does not have the richness of voice, and intonation that the Radio Broadcast does. The reader is required to make a much greater effort at imagining and enjoying. Many of the comments and much of the dialogue which just sounds humorous when heard, does not necessarily come across that way on the page.
Reading it I compared it to other works written about the worlds of 'small - towns'. The first which came to mind is Thornton Wilder's Our Town'. But I also thought of Anderson 's 'Winesburg Ohio' and Joyce's 'Dubliners'.Also Edgar Lee Master's 'Spoon- River Anthology'.
Despite Captain Cat and the amorous Polly Garter and the good Reverend Jenkins it seems to me that Thomas does not have the same kind of richness in character - development that these other works do. It seems to me he is not really trying to have us focus in on the pathos and pain of any particular individual's story.
The Play is really a collective portrait. And the many characters and voices which come in and out are less memorable for their 'whole stories' than for their moments of perception, insight, wild imagination and fantasy, humor.
The whole text is alliterately rich and 'poetic'. It is filled with neologism, all kinds of words and things I did not, and do not know the meaning of. It has a certain mysterious quality. But I think what really carries it along is the poetic voice and humor of Thomas, his somewhat detached and distant word- picture of the quirks and foibles of a small town. But then too the language and the perceptions flash Beauty at us also. And there is a delight in the whole sense of making the story of the town into a play, which the poet is playing with as he tells it to us.
I must admit I did not find in any of the remarks or poems here the same power as there is Thomas' grestest poems. But there is the light and the play and the love of the small town and its people. A pleasure to read which I suspect is a much greater pleasure to listen to on the radio.

For the average listener, Under Milkwood's self-titled album will come as a sad knock-off of Jefferson Airplane's own landmark album, `Surrealistic Pillow'. For the connoisseur of sixties psychedelia, this will come as a wonderful surprise. Like SP, this album is split into an electric camp and a folkier, more stream of consciousness side. The recording was made in 1970, a time when psychedelic music was on its way out; all of the great bands of that era were in their twilight (except for the Grateful Dead): the Doors were good for one more album, `L.A. Woman'; the Jefferson Airplane had all but called it quits after 1969's `Volunteers'; the Beatles of course were on their last legs . . . In a way Under Milkwood is a classic example of too little too late. The opening track, "Empty room" is as good as it gets with the San Francisco sound: twin guitars loudly battling for the lead, a powerful vocal and a great drum/bass back-up. Generally the folkier songs are dependent on the vocal talents of Clara Miles; "Changing Seasons", "Tell Me" and "Lost Youth" are all pastoral, almost motionless songs. To many listeners they will be uninteresting, because other bands such as Pentangle, Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span have all done this much better. There are two prominent saxophone songs. The first, "Forgotten bridge", is a curious duet with a loud guitar that never seems to take off and go anywhere. The second, "Parade", is a strange, almost hymn-like procession. "Sandwiches and rock and roll" is loud, unimaginative filler. The last two songs actually tips things towards the favorable. The "Ballad of the spirit world" is an awesome instrumental that has a great sax solo at the start and a freaky guitar workout halfway through and then the same sax solo closes it! "Final song" bookends "Empty room", because both songs are about the loneliness of being different. It has an interesting vocal duet between Miles and Thornam, one of the guitarists. Like the opening track, this song builds to a furious, twin lead guitar attack-in all, a great way to close an album-and an era.

Written as a "play for voices" for the BBC, this work was originally performed in 1954, with Richard Burton as the First Voice, connecting all thirty-three characters--men, women, and small children. Depicting one full day in the life of Llareggub, a small town in Wales, Thomas shows its motley residents as they awaken, perform their daily tasks, socialize and gossip, and daydream about the past that might have been and the future that may yet offer hope. As is always the case with Thomas, the "play" is full of alliteration and various kinds of rhyme, with nouns and adjectives used as verbs to convey action and sense impressions simultaneously. A wry humor (Try reading the name of the town backwards, for example) and an honesty of feeling make the work engaging for the reader and charmingly illustrative of a time and place now gone.

Individual characters come alive through their own voices and through the gossip of others, spread by the postman and by neighbors. When night falls and the residents retire, their additional losses and disappointments, along with their escapes into dreams, are given voice and poignancy. Polly Garter, with her numerous children by numerous fathers, dreams of Willie Weasel, a very small man who was the love of her life. Captain Cat, the blind bell-ringer, thinks of all the sailors he knew who died at sea and Mr. Pugh dreams of poisoning his wife.

Simple songs add to the realism and the sense of character and place. An elegiac song by Polly Garter, as she remembers Willie and compares him to her other lovers, conveys an almost palpable sadness and makes Polly one of the most memorable characters. A humorous singing game by children adds to the realism, and young Gwenny's song to three very young boys is full of cheeky humor. Filled with the hurly-burly of everyday life in a small town in 1950s Wales, this and A Child's Christmas in Wales are among Thomas's most beloved works. Mary Whipple

UNDER MILKWOOD was recorded on A&M records (SP 4226)in 1969 but was not released, although there are rumors that a few promos got out. The album was reissued on vinyl by Fanny-Riverside label in the early 90s and most recently on vinyl and CD by Akarma Records (Comet) of Italy. The musical styles contained run all over the map. There is improvisational jazz, folk singing, rock, pop and general musical meandering. The performance is rough and uneven in spots, but oddly enough, by hanging in there it all makes sense in the end. Stylistically the sound resembles Fairport Convention or Jefferson Airplane. There's speculation the album wasn't released because of legal conflicts concerning the band's name. Another group titled 'Milkwood' existed at the time. Members of this band later became the Cars.