The poet who never knew himself !

by Gwen Herat at the Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea, South Wales

Dylan Thomas, the iconic poet who never found himself. The celebrity a well-groomed poet signs books and records at the Gotahm Book Mart in New York.

Like the park birds he came early
Like the water he sat down
And Mister they called Hey Mister
The truant boys from the town

Running when he had heard them clearly
On out of sound...

From The Hunchback in the Park Was this a prelude to a part of his life? A shadow reflecting of his lonely figure cramped into his young life?

Dylan Thomas, the Bard of Wales is next only to William Shakespeare from the world of literature, both icons in their own right. Nobody knew who the real Dylan Thomas was. How could they when he never knew himself! He was a wild Welsh boy who roared through his brief life. He was the doomed poet who praised the fleeting beauty of youth and innocence.

Real Dylan

Which of these images is nearest to the real Dylan? Your guess is as good as mine. I visit the Dylan Thomas Centre in South Wales annually but his real image is still a mystery to me. He was a man of Swansea, born and nurtured in its green environment, the base for his future works. It is difficult to establish what is true or not about Thomas but he has always been described as an exciting, stimulating and compelling writer who raced through: life to reach dizzy heights in his iconic works.

During his lifetime being described as the greatest living poet in the English language, amounts to his father stimulating him with Shakespeare's writing. But Thomas who greatly appreciated the Bard's work, never allowed him to be influenced. Thomas' was different. They were more evocative and lyrical accessible to the average people of his time, especially the English speaking Welsh.

'Now as I was young and easy under the apple bough.

About the lilting house and as happy as the grass was green.

The night above the dingle starry.

Time let me hail and climb.

Golden in the heydays of his eyes

And honoured among the wagons I was the prince of the apple town

And once below a time. I lordly had the trees and leaves

Trail with daisies and barley

Down the rivers of the windfall light.

From – Fern Hill

Parents

The breath-taking beauty of lush green Wales that inspired and nurtured him to greatness.

Thomas was the product between two very different parents. His father was a frustrated and an angry would-be poet who was a teacher in a provincial school. His loving mother was less complexed and came from a close-knit family. She was a happy, radiant person who showered love and care on her children in excess. The different temperaments between the two caused tension on Thomas's life, especially when he was launching his poetic career. Of course, he was blissfully unaware of these facts because he had a doting mother and an elder sister, a live-in maid who was protective of him.

Early life

Dylan is a name from an ancient Wales myth and and religion and from the days before the dawn of Christianity, from a thousand years before the English appeared in Britain. Even at a tender age, Thomas was very mindful about this and was proud being a Welsh. The language of both families was Welsh but he was forced to speak only English. Thomas Snr. Knew his son was a challenge for the future and readied him for it. Thomas learned early and remarkably well astonishing his father beside his teachers but he was a sick child. However when it came to playing with other children, he became robust, especially at Cwindonkin Wonderland Park just across his home.

Perhaps because of his protected childhood, Thomas dreamed of a Paradise he could escape to. In his poems of 'Fern Hill' he summoned up his dream-world giving a most powerful and evocative description of childhood he had ever written. His teens saw two inspirational and recreation of the innocence of childhood and freshness of the world in 'A child's Christmas in Wales' and 'a story'. Though it is not mentioned anywhere I am sure, that Thomas wrote these two poems for his mother whom he loved and who inspired him in simple ways unlike his professional father.

'Under the Milk Wood' was the classic that pushed him right to the top. This literary gem was made into an epic Hollywood film and was featured on the BBC. Thomas's other interests were the theatre and he performed in school plays and in various other amature productions over the years at the Swansea Little Theatre. His talent stood out because of his exuberance and gentle personality that took him to the BBC and with his reading tours to the United States.

He continued to write and became obsessed with it when he experienced music in his words. He also wrote many successful short stories, arguing that life cannot exist without death nor death without life. He indicates so in 'Fern Hill', his best known poem in his first collection.

Elemental energy

He was fired by elemental energy, that an individual is only a small insignificant part of a cosmic order. Did he believe in rebirth? No one was able to answer because as I stated earlier, Thomas and the literary world never knew who the real Dylan Thomas was. He believed that when an individual died, life was never-ending but repeated for ever in the cycle of sex, birth, life and death. If this is Buddhist philosophy; then Thomas had the right to believe in rebirth.

The major subjects that dominated his writings were life, death, creativity and destruction which are apparent in his early works.

His wife, Pamela Johnson was apprehensive about his heavy drinking and wayward behaviour which made him irresponsible, forgetful of his duties as a husband and a father. In many ways he appeared to be his own enemy that led him to fear and uncertainty. This vicious cycle led him to his early death in a foreign land.

Why did it happen that way?

Great artist

He was a great artist and blessed with a ferociously devoted wife who was very supportive and who suffered a great deal with their three children when Thomas was down and out, almost like destitutes living on the dole. But Thomas picked up his brilliant career. His 'collected poems' when published in 1952, acclaimed him as the greatest living poet.

Ten thousand copies were sold in the first year, 20,000 in the second year in the United Kingdom alone. More copies were sold in the United States.

'Under Milk Wood' showed the charm of Thomas' confident, secure and loving nature. Although he discovered a deeper significance in life. He was unable to turn success into spectacular heights but stumble into irredeemable failure. Frustrated with drinks overtaking his young life, he gave up the urge to live. He fell sick and was hospitalised at St. Vincent's Hospital. He remained in a coma for four days and on November 9, 1953 died peacefully, Pamela brought his body from New York to Laugharne where it was buried in the churchyard.

No one will ever know why the young Thomas, the great poet who had survived many a miserable failure for so many years, was unable to live with what was now apparent success.

Did he commit suicide, 'insult to the brain', alcoholic poisoning, diabetes, shock, effects of drugs taken to control pneumonia. These still remain mysteries.

Dylan Thomas only began his gigantic, iconic literary career. Had he lived his full life, we would be idolising him and not William Shakespeare!