"Aranrhod stepped over the wand, and with that step she dropped a sturdy boy with thick yellow hair; the boy gave a loud cry, and with that cry she made her way for the door.....

  "Well," said Math, "I will arrange for the baptism of this one......and I will call him Dylan."

  The boy was baptized, whereupon he immediately made for the sea, and when he came to the sea he took on its nature and swam as well as the best fish. He was called Dylan (sea) son of Ton (wave), for no wave ever broke beneath him."

  In April of 1936 he met Caitlin MacNamara, and in September his second volume of poetry Twenty-five Poemswas released. In July 1937 Dylan and Caitlin were married and in 1938, they moved to Laugharne, Wales.

  Their first child, Llewelyn Edouard Thomas was born in January 1939. The Map of Lovewas published in August 1939 and The World I Breathewas published in December 1939, in the United States.

  In April 1940 Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dogwas published and in September, Dylan began working for Strand Filmswhich he continued for the duration of World War II.

  His second child Aeronwyn Bryn Thomas was born in March 1943. Deaths and Entranceswas published in 1946. In 1949 his third child, Colm Garan Hart Thomas was born. In 1952, Collected Poems, 1934-1952became the last book published in his life time. He also published many short stories, wrote filmscripts, broadcast stories and talks, did a series of lecture tours in the United States and wrote Under Milkwood, the radio play.

  During his fourth lecture tour of the United States in 1953, (which he made under a doctor's care) and a few days after his 39th birthday, he collapsed in hisNew York City hotel. He died on November 9th, 1953 at St Vincents Hospital, in New York City. His body was sent back to Laugharne, Wales, where his grave is marked by a simple wooden cross.

  His unfinished novel, Adventures in the Skin Trade,was originally rejected by his London publisher for not being "the great, serious autobiographical work to which they had looked forward so long." The novel itself is the incredibly funny story of a young man, Samuel Bennet, who moves to London, after metaphorically (and nearly literally) burning his bridges behind him. In the few extant chapters, Samuel gets involved in a series of inextricable situations, beginning with getting a finger permanently stuck inside of a Bass Ale bottle. The title, in typically Dylan Thomas fashion refers, of course, to the young man's trading one life for another, a metaphoric trading of skins. In correspondence with Vernon Watkins, he describes the work-in-progress as:

"It's a mixture of Oliver Twist, Little Dorrit, Kafka, Beachcomber, and good old 3-adjectives-a-penny belly-churning Thomas, the Rimbaudof Cwmdonkin Drive."

  In July 1994, his wife, Caitlin Thomas died in Italy, where she had spent most of the years of her life after the death of her husband.

  Dylan Thomas, often described as a "classic Welsh writer", never actually learned the Welsh language himself. Though he achieved much notoriety during his short life, he received little financial gain. It was only after his death that his work truly began to be appreciated. There is no doubt, however, that he is one of the great English (language) poets of the twentieth century, arguably the greatest poet of our time. Dylan Thomas' incredible use of metaphor, meter, and a comic wit, allows his work to stand alone, balancing a reckless neo-Romantic sensuality against the more staid Puritanism of his time and culture. Thomas' lust for life and love of drink may well have contributed to his premature demise, yet his work remains, a testament to both his skill and mastery of The Word. The work of Dylan Thomas has been ingrained into our modern psyche in countless ways, ranging from a surprisingly stirring recital of "Do not go gentle into that good night" by none other than Rodney Dangerfieldin the 1986 movie Back To School(in itself proof of the poet's powerfully enduring skill) to a more highbrow choral symphonybased on three of his poems.

ChronologicalBibliography

• 18 Poems (1934)[OOP]
  
• 25 Poems (1936) [OOP]
  
• The Map of Love (1939) [OOP]
  
• The World I Breathe (1939) [OOP]
  
• Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog (1940)
  
• New Poems (1943) [OOP]
  
• Deaths and Entrances (1946) [OOP]
  
• Selected Writings of Dylan Thomas (1946) [OOP]
  
• Twenty-Six Poems (1950) [OOP]
  
• In Country Sleep (1952) [OOP]
  
• Collected Poems, 1934-1952 (1952)
  
• The Doctor and the Devils and Other Scripts (1953)
  
• Under Milkwood: A Play For Voices (1954)
  
• Quite Early One Morning (1954)
  
• Adventures in the Skin Trade and Other Stories (1955)
  
• A Prospect of the Sea (1955) [OOP]
  
• A Child's Christmas in Wales (1955)
  
• Letters to Vernon Watkins(1957)
  
• The Doctor and the Devils and Other Scripts
  
• The Beach of Falesa(1964) [OOP]
  
• Dylan Thomas - a Collection of Critical Essays: Charles B. Cox (ed.) (1966) [OOP]
  
• The Poems of Dylan Thomas(1979)
  
• The Collected Stories of Dylan Thomas (1984)
  
• On the Air With Dylan Thomas: The Broadcasts
  
• Eight Stories (1993)
  
• Dylan Thomas: The Complete Screenplays (1995)
  
• Rebecca's Daughters: A Film Scenario
  
• Fern Hill: An Illustrated edition of the Dylan Thomas poem. [1998]

• Dylan Thomas: Reading His Poetry(audio cassette)

• Under Milkwood [UNABRIDGED]Audio Cassettes, Dylan Thomas and a variety of other performers...

• Adventures in the Skin TradeAudio Cassettes

• Dylan Thomas Reads: And Death Shall Have No Dominion, a Winter's Tale, on Reading Poetry Aloud and Other Selections/Audio Cassettes

• More Dylan Thomas Reads: Adventures in the Skin Trade/Quite Early One Morning and Other Poems/Audio Cassettes

• Dylan Thomas Reads A Child's Christmas in Wales and Five Poems: CompactDisc edition

• Dylan Thomas Reads A Child's Christmas in Wales and Five Poems: Cassette edition

• Dylan Thomas in Country Heaven, the Evolution of a Poem

• Reading from His Work (1 Cassette)

• The Complete Recorded Stories and Humourous Essays of Dylan Thomas(Cassette)

• Internet Movie Database's listing of all films which credit Dylan Thomas

• Dylan Thomas: An Original Language (Georgia Southern University Jack N. & Addie Averitt Lecture, 6): Barbara Nathan Hardy, (8/2000)

• Dylan Thomas: The Biography: Paul Ferris (April 2000)

• The Reference Companion To Dylan Thomas (1998)

• Dylan Thomas In America: An Intimate Journal- John Malcolm Brinnin (1955) [reprint edition 7/2000]

• Artists in Dylan Thomas's Prose Works : Adam Naming and Aesop Fabling- Ann Elizabeth Mayer

• Dylan Thomas (Twayne's English Authors Series No. 20): Jack Korg

• Critical Essays On Dylan Thomas (Critical Essays On British Literature Series): George Gaston (ed.)

• Dylan Thomas: Walford Davies

• Dylan Thomas: New Critical Essays: Walford Davies [OOP] (this may be the same as the above)

• A Reader's Guide to Dylan Thomas (Reader's Guides Series): William York Tindall

• Caitlin : Life With Dylan Thomas [out of print]: Caitlin Thomas

• Caitlin: The Life of Caitlin Thomas: Paul Ferris

• Caitlin: A Warring Absence: [OOP]

• The Dylan Thomas Photo Album: I believe this is a photo album with a variety of Dylan Thomas quotes scattered throughout...

Inspired By Dylan Thomas...