Life Challenges and History of Dylan Thomas

891 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: With emphasis on death as a theme examine dylan thomas death poem

“A worm tells summer better than a clock, the slug’s a living calendar of days: What shall it tell me if a timeless insect, Says the world wears away?” As a young poet Dylan suffered from many things two of which were financial problems and alcoholic abuse. Thomas poems were his way of expressing his feelings and thoughts. Despite Thomas struggles with life, he still managed to become a very successful poet. What transitioned within the young British poet’s life will be the discovery of his personal life, his marriage, his career and his death, and as well as an expounding of two of his poems.
Dylan Thomas was born on October 27, 1914, in Swansea, Glamorgan Wales. (Applebee 1001). Thomas was the youngest child of David John Thomas and Florence Hannah Thomas. He attended Swansea Grammar School, where his father taught as an English literature professor. Although Thomas was a very sickly child who often shied away from school, he preferred reading on his own. Fascinated by language in school, Thomas excelled in English and reading. At the age of sixteen Thomas dropped out of high school to become a junior reporter for the South Wales Daily Post. (Lycett, Andrew. Dylan Thomas: A new life, 2003). During his childhood summers he spent most of his time visiting his grandparents. Although Thomas family struggled from financial problems, he still managed to have an incredible childhood. In December of 1932, he left his job as a reporter and decided to concentrate on his poetry. During this time, Thomas wrote more than half of his collected poems.
In the year of 1934, when Thomas was twenty, he moved to London, and won the Poet’s Corner book prize, where he published his first book, 18 Poems (The Fortune press). The book came from a coll...

... middle of paper ...

...ncrease. I can with ease become an ordinary fool. I may be one now. But it doesn't do to upset one's own vanity.” Dylan Thomas poems focused on death, religion, sex, and the love of English. Having a not so good childhood Dylan Thomas left school to pursue a writing career that flourished. While writing as a young artist he found the love of his life Caitlin MacNarma. Shortly after Thomas’s career began to flourish he died of slow death. Despite the hardship Thomas lived, he still managed to achieve his dream as a writer.

Work Cited
Collected Poems, 1934–1952
Lycett, Andrew. Dylan Thomas: A new life, 2003 http://www.poemhunter.com/dylan-thomas/biography/ The Fortune press
Thomas, Dylan. Eight Stories. New Direction Publishing Corp.
80 Eighth Avenue. New York 10011.
Thomas, Dylan. The Language of Literature. Applebee N, Arthur.
Et. Al. Evanston, Il 60204, 2006

Show More
Related

  • Tone Of Xiv By Derek Walcott

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    The timeline carries on chronologically, the intense imagery exaggerated to allow the poem to mimic childlike mannerisms. This, subjectively, lets the reader experience the adventure through the young speaker’s eyes. The personification of “sunset”, (5) “shutters”, (8) “shadows”, (19) and “lamplights” (10) makes the world appear alive and allows nothing to be a passing detail, very akin to a child’s imagination. The sunset, alive as it may seem, ordinarily depicts a euphemism for death, similar to the image of the “shutters closing like the eyelids”

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Discovering Kay Ryan

    1191 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ryan reminds us of the suggestive power of poetry–how it elicits and rewards the reader’s intellect, imagination, and emotions. I like to think that Ryan’s magnificently compressed poetry – along with the emergence of other new masters of the short poem like Timothy Murphy and H.L. Hix and the veteran maestri like Ted Kooser and Dick Davis – signals a return to concision and intensity.

    Read More

  • American Poets: Biography of E. E. Cummings

    1546 Words  | 4 Pages

    Born on October 14, 1894, E. E. Cummings an American poet was born at home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His mother had a great influence on his early interest in art and poetry. His father was a Unitarian clergyman and sociology professor at Harvard. He began his interest in writing poetry during his high school career as early as 1904 and he also began learning language such as Latin and Greek in the Cambridge Latin High School. During this time he also shortened his name from Edward Estlin to E. E (Constantakis).

    Read More

  • Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

    785 Words  | 2 Pages

    We are all going to die. It is only a matter of how and when. Many people wish for a peaceful death in which it is as seamless as falling asleep. However, Dylan Thomas goes against this particular grain in “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”. With the use of a defiant tone, repetition of critical lines, and provocative metaphors, Thomas implores individuals that they should not at any point give up despite death being imminent.

    Read More

  • The Rise and Fall of Truman Capote: A Reflection

    1190 Words  | 3 Pages

    On September 30, 1924, Truman Capote was born in New Orleans, Louisiana (“Truman Capote”). Capote was impressively smart during his childhood. At the young age of four, he had learned how to read (“Truman Capote”). Teachers were worried by little Capote after he often failed classes; simply, Capote

    Read More

  • Life and Death in Thomas' Do Not Go Gentle and Frost's Stopping by Woods

    2063 Words  | 5 Pages

    Holbrook, David. Llareggub Revisted: Dylan Thomas and the State of Modern Poetry. Cambridge: Bowes and Bowes, 1965. 100-101.

    Read More

  • Bob Dylan Synthesis

    568 Words  | 2 Pages

    Michael Gray’s analysis of Dylan’s lyrics being a contrast between hackneyed expressions and “beautifully done” are exemplified in the song “Just Like a Woman.” Dylan’s lyrics “she aches just like a woman but she breaks just like a little girl” is given the harsh description of “maudlin platitude” and deemed to be a “non-statement.” If Dylan’s lyrics cannot uphold against meaningful music of the same category, how can they be expected to stand against literature written for a different field. John Lennon had his own critiques of Dylan’s works, calling out how the abstract nature of his lyrics, having loose definition, never achieved an actual point. Lennon’s definition of “poetry” referred to “stick[ing] a few images together” and “thread[ing] them” in order to create something meaningful. It once again boils down to the fact that Dylan’s music that was written and intended to be received as a live performance. The acknowledgement that “…you have to hear Dylan doing it” is a recognition of his composition’s failure to come across as a normal literary work. It’s all part of a “good game.” This in itself should disqualify Dylan as a possible candidate for the Nobel Prize.

    Read More

  • The Destruction of Sennacherib by George Gordon,

    1397 Words  | 3 Pages

    Byron was born on January 22, 1788 in London, England. He was the son of Captain John Byron and Catherine Gordon (Magill 312). His father had a daughter from a previous marriage, named Augusta. Byron was born with a clubbed right foot, which gave him a limp every time he walked for the rest of his life. His father was greedy and sought out money from all of his wives, so in 1789 Byron moved with his mother to Aberdeen. He grew up with a rough childhood, being abused by his mother often. However, he found help when he began reading the Bible and developed a love for history. This eventually led to his ideas for writing and his journeys across the globe (“Lord”).

    Read More

  • Langston Hughes

    1461 Words  | 3 Pages

    In order for a person to really understand how Mr. Hughes’s life shaped his poetry, one must know all about his background. In this paper, I will write a short biography of Hughes’s life and tell how this helped accent his literary genius.

    Read More

  • Richard Wilbur

    1551 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...people think more about the life in which they live everyday. His poems connected to his life, e.g. the poems about nature in The Beautiful Changes connected to his life on a large property and its connections to his time on the battlefield. Wilbur closed out his National Book Award acceptance speech by saying: “Writing poetry, then, is an unsocial way of manufacturing a thoroughly social product. Because he must shield his poetry in its creation, the poet, more than other writers, will write without recognition. And because his product is not in great demand, he is likely to look on honors and distinctions with the feigned indifference of the wallflower. Yet of course he is pleased when recognition comes; for what better proof is there that for some people poetry is still a useful and necessary thing -- like a shoe” (“Richard Wilbur”, National Book Foundation).

    Read More

  • New Criticism of Dylan Thomas' Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

    691 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dylan Thomas was born in 1914 of intellectual parents both being literature professors. Long before he could read, his father would recite poetry from classic authors. Many of his poems can be traced to the illustrated style of D.H Lawrence. The imagery he provides of disparity and death in many of his poems. In the span of Dylan’s life, he witnessed both Great Wars. The first war may have been the main topic of discussion by his parents at childhood. And later at service in the air defense over London. Because of his determined health Thomas was not able to enroll in an active combat role during World War II. Thomas life’s experiences played a major role in influencing his writing...

    Read More

  • Bob Dylan Essay

    1251 Words  | 3 Pages

    Not many people would mind having the title of a poet, except maybe one of the most influential artists of all time. (Kennedy and Gioia, 599) Bob Dylan was a remarkable protest singer and songwriter during the Vietnam Era with many well-remembered songs about war and many other significant topics concerning the era. He has influenced many modern day songwriters and many other famous bands such as the Beatles. (Marinucci, Steve)

    Read More

  • Struggle to Cope with Death in Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

    1502 Words  | 4 Pages

    Dylan Thomas was born on October 27, 1914 in Swansea, Wales.  He was educated at Swansea Grammar School.  He was urged by his father to go farther in his education, however Thomas began to write.  He published his first book in 1934.  Thomas and his father had a very close relationship throughout his life.  This is important to know while reading the poem Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night.  His father was very ill for many years, and Thomas had to watch his father's suffering.  Thomas has said, "Poetry comforts and heals".  Hopefully that is what Thomas was doing when he wrote this poem.

    Read More

  • The Old Fools, by Philip Larkin

    789 Words  | 2 Pages

    The twentieth century has provided the poetic universe with some of the most influential and prominent poets. The ideas and concepts conveyed by these poets have help to influence the works of other writers. Philip Arthur Larkin has been regarded as one of the greatest English poets of the latter half of the twentieth century. Most of Larkin’s poetry is condensed into four volumes of poetry: The North Ship, The Less Deceived, The Whitsun Weddings, and High Windows. His use of vulgar expressions helps to emphasize the main concept in his work and develops a unique writing style of his own. Using his own poetic technique, Larkin conveys his discontentment with his existence and shows the psychological suffering he endured throughout his life. By analyzing Larkin’s poetry, a reader can appreciate the uniqueness of his style and understand the significance of the concepts conveyed throughout his works. “The Old Fools” was published in, the fourth volume of poetry released during his lifetime, High Windows. It explores the idea of the speakers’ gerascophobia, or the fear of growing old, through analyzing the physical and mental deterioration of the elderly and their digression back into early childhood.

    Read More

  • Lord Byron Influences

    659 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lord Byron grew up overcoming many different challenges and obstacles throughout his early adult years, influencing his writing in many ways. In London on January 22, 1788, Lord Byron was born to the parents of Catherine Gordon of Gight and Captain John Byron, also known as “Mad Jack.” Lord’s father was a legendary poet who was absent the day of his son’s birth, fleeing to France where he died in 1791. Lord Byron grew up never knowing his father, he only knew him from the poems his father wrote. Catherine Gordon was born an heiress to the Scott’s. She was an overbearing single mother to her son.

    Read More

More about Life Challenges and History of Dylan Thomas

Open Document