The Swansea.Com website carries a biography
of Dylan Thomas that reads:
"Full name: Dylan
Marlais Thomas Dylan Thomas
Occupation: Poet, short-story
writer and playwright
Date of birth: 27th October
1914
Birthplace: Swansea, south Wales, UK
Passed away:
9th November 1953 aged 39
Location: New York,
USA
Wife: Caitlin MacNamara
Children: Son:
Llewellyn in 1939
Daughter: Aeronwy born in 1946
Son: Colm born
1949
Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea on
27th October 1914. He had a sister, Nancy, who was 8 years his senior. He
attended the Swansea Grammar School for boys (now Mount Pleasant College) in the
city where his father, David, was an English Literature teacher. His mother,
Florence Hannah, was Welsh speaking but Dylan was brought up speaking English by
his father, which is still the predominant language spoken in
Swansea.
His mother was from a farm near
Carmarthen, where the family would go on summer visits. The contrast between the
city and the farm influenced Dylan’s writings. He was rejected by the services
during World War II due to his frailty. It was during his period living in the
family home at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive that he wrote a large amount of his poems and
short stories. He was a very strong orator and speaker, making over 200
appearances on BBC radio.
Laugharne, a small English speaking
village in Carmarthenshire is now most associated with Dylan. His first visit
there was in 1934 and he returned in pursuit of Caitlin in 1936. The couple
set-up home there on Gosport Street in a house called Eros and then to another
property called Sea View. They left Laugharne in 1940 but returned in 1949, when
benefactor, Margaret Taylor, bought them the Boat House.
Dylan also lived in London and
often toured America. It was on one of his speaking tours that he collapsed in
the White Horse Tavern, in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York. He later died
on 9th November 1953 in the St. Vincent's Hospital.
His body was returned to Wales,
where he was buried at St Martin's Church in Laugharne, Caitlin was layed to
rest with him when she passed away in 1994.
Dylan’s most famous work is “Under
Milk Wood – a play for voices”, which starts with the line “To begin at the
beginning”. The play is based in the village of Llareggub, it is a fictional
village made up by him, which is most famous for how it is read in reverse. It
is believed that the people were based on Laugharne villagers but the actual
location was that of New Quay in west Wales, a film on his life in the village
was being filmed there in 2007 starring Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller and
Matthew Rhys called 'The Edge of Love'.
He was a well renowned drinker, and
bars such as The No Sign Wine bar in Swansea and Browns Hotel in Laugharne are
still associated with him. He also became known as one of the Kardomah gang,
this consisted of artists, poets and writers from Swansea who always met at the
café on Castle Street. The original café was “raised to the snow” as Dylan put
it in one of his plays, during the bombing of Swansea in World War II but
re-opened in its current location on Portland
Street."