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~~~~~~~~~~~~ a meditation on form and obsession ~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Dylan Marlais Thomas was born in Swansea, Wales, on October 27, 1914. He would become one of the most celebrated—and most troubled—poets of the 20th century. His wild, musical verse, his legendary drinking, and his early death at 39 made him a romantic figure even as his work explored mortality with unflinching intensity.
| 1914 | Born in Swansea, Wales, to a schoolteacher father and seamstress mother |
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| 1934 | First collection 18 Poems published at age 20, immediate critical acclaim |
| 1937 | Marries Caitlin Macnamara; tempestuous marriage begins |
| 1940s | Works for BBC, writes film scripts during WWII, grows famous |
| 1950-53 | Four American reading tours; grows more famous, more alcoholic |
| 1951 | Writes "Do not go gentle into that good night" for his dying father |
| 1953 | Dies in New York City, November 9, age 39, of alcohol poisoning |
Written in 1947 but not published until 1951, this villanelle is addressed to Thomas's father, David John Thomas, who was dying of throat cancer. The elder Thomas—a former schoolteacher who had instilled in Dylan a love of English poetry—would not die until December 1952.
The poem is a son's furious refusal to accept his father's quiet acceptance of death. "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" insists on fighting, on refusing to surrender. The villanelle form—with its obsessive repetition, its circling return—perfectly captures the desperate, repetitive plea.
Every tercet catalogs those who "rage"—wise men, good men, wild men, grave men— before turning to "you, my father." The personal makes the universal specific.
His reading voice—recorded for the BBC and on American tours—remains mesmerizing. He read poetry as incantation, as music, as spell-casting. "Under Milk Wood," his "play for voices," is still performed worldwide. His Collected Poems have never gone out of print.
His drinking has become as legendary as his poetry, and we do him a disservice to romanticize it. He died in the White Horse Tavern in Greenwich Village after claiming to have drunk "18 straight whiskies." The actual cause was alcohol poisoning complicated by morphine administered by a doctor. He left behind a wife, three children, and some of the most musical verse in English.
International Dylan Thomas Day is observed on May 14—the date he completed the manuscript of "Under Milk Wood" in 1953, just months before his death.