Customer Reviews (1)

" And Death shall have no Dominion"
This collection of critical essays edited by C.B. Cox is an especially fine one. It includes essays by John Wain, David Daiches, John Ackerman, Elder Olson, Winifed Nowottny, Ralph Maud, William Empson, Raymond Williams, David Holbrook, Annis Pratt, Robert M.Adams , John Bayley, Karl Shapiro.
I found especially interesting "The Welsh Background" by John Ackerman. He speaks of the way Thomas who did not know Welsh shared much with his Welsh contemporaries , above all, Vernon Watkins. He speaks of the Romantic element in Thomas, the introspective, the wildly original. Thomas burst upon the scene in the thirties a voice very much different from the prevailing Eliot- Yeats- Auden spirit of the time.
In a sense the most moving essay is the one by Karl Shapiro written shortly after Thomas' death at the age of thirty- nine. Fellow poet Shapiro knows the canon of Thomas poetry and selects thirty of the poems as those he believes will truly stand the test of time (Thomas wrote "I advance for as long as forever is ")
The poems Shapiro selects are"
"I see the boys of summer", " A process in the weather of the heart","The force that through the green fuse drives the flower", "Especially when the October wind"," When, like a running grave", "Light breaks where no sun shines", "Do you not father me", " A grief ago", "And death shall have no dominion", "Then was my neophyte", "When all my five and country senses see"" We lying by seas and sand" "It is the sinners' dust- tongued bell"," After the funeral", "Not from this anger", "How shall my animal", "Twenty- four years", " A refusal to mourn", "Poem in October", "The Hunchback in the Park"" Into her lying down head" " Do not go gentle" " A Winter's Tale" " On the Marriage of a Virgin" " When I woke" "Among those killed in the dawn raid" "Fern Hill" "In country sleep", "Over the John's Hill""Poem on his Birthday".
Shapiro discusses Thomas' major themes, of his moving " between sexual revulsion and sexual ecstasy, between puritanism and mysticism, between formalistic ritual ( this accounts for his lack of invention) and vagueness." Wain writes of " the note of doom in the midst of present pleasure, for concealed in each moment lie change and death." He discusses the difference between the obscure early poems and those of the more mature later poems. Wain speaks of a progress from a period in which "techniques of identification pressed too far through a period of occasional verse.. to a period of more limpid , open- worked poetry in which instead of endeavouring to leap outside time into a pantheistic cosmosbeyond the dimensions, he accepts time and change and uses memory as an elegaic device".
This book throws light on a wide variety of aspects of the bard whose voice and presence powerfully moved his listeners and readers.
There is a Jewish teaching "that the evil are dead in their lives, while the righteous live after their death" Perhaps of Thomas it can be said as a poet" After the first life there truly is another" ... Read more

Product Description
This Dylan Thomas biography reveals startling new information on Thomas's stay in Cardiganshire. With updated research and interviews, this work takes a fresh look at the Majoda shooting, the setting of Under Milk Wood, and the claims that Thomas spied for the British in Iran. Previously unpublished photographs provide an inside look at the surroundings and circle of friends that influenced some of Thomas's most important works. ... Read more

Product Description
This ghost story by Dylan Thomas is reissued in a gift format with a new jacket. Two men meet after work and secretly follow a girl back home. They watch her and her mother sit down to supper. A perfectly ordinary evening seems to be in progress - until they open the family photograph album... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An excellent overall telling of the life- but not a reading of the poetry
Constantine Fitzgibbon was a friend or at least a good acquaintance of Dylan Thomas, and there are a number of places in the book in which he talks about conversations or meetings with him. However the greatest part of the book is a meticulous research on the life of Thomas, tracing it from his early days in Swansea to the final sudden death in New York. Fitzgibbon also provides important family background. Dylan Thomas's father was a frustrated would- be - poet, and a distant relation of Thomas was one of the great Welsh poets of the nineteenth century. Fitzgibbon provides an excellent description of the Welsh world Dylan Thomas grew up in, a world in which the the figure of the 'Poet' was idealized.
Thomas' love of words their very sound came to him very early. And in fact many of his greatest poems had their original version in notebooks which he wrote in his teen years. His extraordinary feel for language, his tremendous inventive and imaginative gift though uniquely his also had intimations in the Welsh world and native Welsh literature. The Celtic background played its part even though Thomas' was not educated to be a Welsh speaker but rather was taught to focus on English.
The biography details the most important relationships of Thomas' life including that with Pamela Hansford Johnson, a fellow poet and early romantic interest and Vernon Watkins distinguished and learned Welsh poet who Thomas befriended and was mentored by. Fitgibbon too tells in a sympathetic way the story of Thomas meeting marriage and life with the love of his life, Caitlin. Caitlin believed in Thomas as a poet, and so was disenchanted when he engaged in works, whether script-writing or lecturing which she felt took him from that.
The story of their marriage is a story of money afflictions, of disorder, of mooching off friends but also of great passion. Thomas was rarely responsible in any of his human relations and his wife had the job of raising their three children by herself.
A good part of the book relates the various parties and drunks Thomas engaged in. He believed in the total freedom of the individual and certainly exercised this as irresponsibly as he could. He lived by his impulse and this led him to a very difficult kind of life in material terms.
The book tells us perhaps even more about Thomas' life than we want to know. It also provides certain information which helps us understand his way of working, his conception of poetry. But on the deepest level it does not examine the poems, or give detailed descriptions of their creation or his conception of this. In other ways in some ways it does not tell us the most important thing of all, how this particular poet came to write such overwhelmingly great poems. How he out of all the thousands and thousands who write happened to have the gift and the ability to create such memorable work.
There is the Welsh bardic tradition, the encouragement of his father, the need perhaps to make up for the failure of his father, the natural gift for language and words. There are these background elements but still they do not explain how a person who wasted so much of his life and time, who acted so irresponsibly in so many ways, who knew so much less and was so much less educated than many of his contemporaries, became the one whose words are read and reread today.
So the book tells us who Dylan Thomas was, tells us his story but does not solve the mystery of his greatness.

Classic
This remains a classic biography of a towering figure in English literature and an individual almost Greek in his tragedy.Dylan Thomas is an irresistibly appealing figure.From boyhood,he was in love with the English language."Dragoon", he once said to his sister when they were children, "isn't that a lovely word?"Fitzgibbon weaves Thomas's life into a narrative of the first order,beginning with his father's-happily-fateful decision to teach his children to speak English and not Welsh.Fitzgibbon also chronicles Thomas's fascinating but tempestuous marriage to Caitlin(when Thomas proposed marriage,he was drunk)as well as his friendships with Richard Burton,Augustus Johns and other luminaries.But it is Thomas's poetry,in all its' original brilliance,that stands out in this biography, and none of the poet's lifelong abuses can dim it.
Dylan Thomas died of alcohol poisoning in New York.There is a myth that his last words were:"I've just had eighteen straight whiskies,I think that's a record".In fact, his authentic last words-to his mistress- are more telling: "I love you, but I am alone". ... Read more

Product Description
This study of the poems and prose works of Dylan Thomas traces his development as a writer, linking this with his Welsh background. The formative influence of Swansea, his family roots in West Wales and the childhood visits to Fernhill Farm and the nearby Blaen Cwm cottage are all included, together with the Boat House and Laugharne, the village life and the inspiration of its now famous land- and sea-scapes. The impact of Welsh nonconformity and the chapel, and the radical politics of Wales are also explored as important influences on the poet's career. ... Read more

Product Description
"In her book Caitlin Thomas, the widow of the poet Dylan Thomas candidly describes their turbulent marriage, and she sheds further light on one of the great tragic stories of our time. Even one unfamiliar with the poetry and legend of Dylan Thomas, Leftover Life To Kill is an unforgetable experience." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Purer than this, drivel doesn't come!
Dylan Thomas was a great writer.
Therefore, his widow must have some fascinating insights into his nature.
Right?
Wrong, wrong, wrong!
Self-absorption, thy name is Caitlin! This woman, clinically depressed at her very best, is all too ready and willing (though chronically unable) to plumb the shallows of her own self-loathing:
"I just wonder how much more laborious waste am I expected to perpetuate; because the simplest automatic task, like swabbing a table, is a major scientific problem to me, with all the slow wits chugging at the one and the only method of perfect swabbing; and for what?"
Often her train of thought jumps the rails into near-incoherence. Only her whiny predictability helps you dope out what she means to say:
" . . it would look hardly worth me [sic] flustering myself into a sweat of perturbation over my barely perceptible scratch on the earth's hard surface."
But wait, there's more!!--262 more pages, to be exact.
And so on, and so forth, ad nauseam and beyond.
I agree with her own suggestion at the beginning of Chapter 19: " . . . ending in an excess of disgust, with throwing the lot out."

... Read more

Product Description
Easy-to-follow instructions show budding paper enthusiasts how to use scissors and paper to make scenic landscapes, colorful jewelry, greeting cards, and other three-dimensional pop-up creations." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Wrong book recieved
I see that the problem is not corrected as I too recieved the Dylan Thomas Bio.

Reason for the Mix-Ups
Just wanted to attempt to explain the mixups mentioned below, since we have received an order for this book by mistake. For some reason that is entirely unclear, Pop-O-Mania (published in 1997) seems to share the exact ISBN as Paul Ferris' 1977 biography of Dylan Thomas. Amazon's system has equated these two books and created a hybridized record for them (hence the 1977 publishing date and incorrect page count for Pop-O-Mania noted in the item details). We will be in touch with Amazon about the problem.

Pop-O-Mania
What a rip off. I too was sent a book about Dylan Thomas and never have gotted the book I ordered. It seems that Amazon doesn't care because I have repetely tried to contact someone there and have met only dead ends. Doesn't Amazon have a customer service that handles such matters. I don't even know how to return the Dylan Thomas book that I didn't want in the first place. I wonder if I had ordered that book I would have gotten the one I wanted instead?

Who is Dylan Thomas?
And why did I receive his biography instead of the Pop-o-mania book I ordered?

WRONG BOOK ARRIVES!!!!!!
Dan's right, I received the Dylan Thomas book, too.The real thing is now conveniently priced at double the stated price of $5.25!SOMEONE FIX THE PROBLEM! ... Read more

Product Description
Almost a half century after his death in 1953, the Welsh author Dylan Thomas continues to capture the attention of scholars and critics. Though he attained some measure of fame before he died, he never enjoyed financial prosperity. Some of his works, such as "Fern Hill" and "Do not go gentle into that good night" are frequently included in anthologies, and Thomas is now often considered one of the most important and original poets of the 20th century. He is also one of the most difficult. This reference book is a valuable aid to understanding his troubled life and enduring body of work. The volume begins with an insightful biography that provides a useful context for studying his writings. The second section then provides a systematic overview of his works, while the third section summarizes the critical and scholarly response to his writings. The volume concludes with a bibliography of the most helpful general studies. ... Read more

Product Description
CDs 1 & 2: Historical Recordings Under Milk Wood - the legendary historical performance with Richard Burton and cast Quite Early One Morning Return Journey to Swansea Poems and stories read by Dylan Thomas CDs 3 & 4: New Recordings Read by Philip Madoc, Richard Bebb and Jason Hughes Selected Poems including Fern Hill Do Not Go Gentle Poem in October Selected Stores including The Outing Peaches Visit to Grandpa The Fight And Death Shall Have No Dominion This varied, well-chosen selection brings onto one CD set the best of Dylan Thomas. Here is the legendary recording of Under Milk Wood, with Richard Burton and Richard Bebb as narrators; but here also are two radio productions he wrote before that great classic, and though interesting in their own right, they show how Under Milk Wood grew gradually in his imagination. Thomas was a charismatic if idiosyncratic performer of his own poetry and stories and here is a representative selection. But performances of Dylan Thomas have moved on and the greatness of the writer as a poet and storyteller are perhaps best heard in new recordings by actors of our own time. Here Bebb.Madoc and Hughes share some of Thomas finest, most challenging and endearing works. ... Read more

Product Description
Dylan Thomas's indulgent friends would describe him as an eccentric whose defiance of social convention was a natural extension of his over-fertile imagination. Others were more blunt, calling him a liar, a scrounger, a coward and a thief. Highlighting some of the complexities and paradoxes in the poet's character, this biography discusses how, for instance, this apparent drop-out from society nonetheless appreciated the Establishment's lifestyle enough to join the National Liberal Club, send his eldest child to a public school, and enjoyed afternoons watching cricket at Lord's. Jonathan Fryer, who has also written a biography of Christopher Isherwood, has drawn on interviews with Thomas's close friends and relatives and on much new material, such as letters and memoirs, which has come to light in recent years. ... Read more

Product Description
'In the beginning was the three-pointed star, One smile of light across the empty face; One bough of bone across the rooting air, The substance forked that marrowed the first sun; And, burning cophers on the round of space, Heaven and hell mixed as they spun.' This is a rich collection of Dylan Thomas's best-loved poems and stories, as well as pieces he wrote for radio and magazines. The selection spans Thomas's writing lifetime, and it shows the full range of this tempestuous and meticulous artist who once cheerfully claimed that he had beast, angel and madman within him. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Dylan thomas and me
a excellent book with a excellent selecciot of his poetry

do not dout about the great poetry you will find here

i just can say dylan is fundamental for understand the poetry of XX century

take the oportunity

Delicious Dylan Thomas
From the glorious cover photograph of the pensive bard to the last word of poet, prose writer and playwright Dylan Thomas' "Under Milkwood" this is a volume most fine! The soft cover edition even has a milky patina to it, as much a pleasure to hold as the words inside are to read.
All the famous poems are here: "If I were tickled by the rub of love", "And death shall have no dominion", "Fern Hill" and everything else. This is an omnibus, after all. The short stories are almost as intense as the poems. Also included are transcriptions of some of his broadcasts. And here a suggestion, get the associated recordings to round out your Dylan Thomas experience for his voice was a wonder. He had been a radio broadcaster and on tour he was an unforgettable reader and the best interpreter of his own work there has ever been.
There is also a timeline of his career. The brief biography could be longer but that is being picky for who doesn't know his life was tragically far too short. His oeuvre speaks for itself. He was the greatest meddler of words since Shakespeare. Thomas' work will be read as long as English is spoken and this volume will be cherished by anyone who loves our language, for a lifetime. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An excellent study of a great poet
William T. Moynihan says that this study is only for those who believe that Thomas at very least wrote a handful of great poems. Drawing on previous studies and especially on Thomas letters Moynihan illuminates the work of Thomas. He shows how Thomas is often an unreliable reader of his own poetry, and also makes a strong case for Thomas a deeply religious poet. He connects the ' life force' in Thomas with that in D.H. Lawrence shows Thomas connection to the Welsh countryside and bardic tradition.He also shows how conscienscious a craftsman Thomas was and how he fashioned in his collected poems a work of great symbolic and mythic unity. In his summary Moynihan maintains that one year before his death Thomas 'had, for all practical purposes completed his vision of the human condition, the unity of birth, fall and regeneration. Imperfect, truncated, and ambiguous in many particulars, 'Collected Poems' nevertheless marks a completed esthetic. The highly imaginative existence revealed in this esthetic together with his singular importance as a neo- romantic poetand his score of superb lyric poems, mark Dylan Thomas as one of a half dozen major poets writing in English in the first half of our century."
This is a very rich study and will be of considerable help to readers of Thomas. ... Read more