The legend of Dylan Thomas remains strong almost 60 years after his
death, remembered as much for his stirringly lyrical poetry,
created in a sea of modernism, as for his passion for
drinking.
He was born in 1914 in Swansea to a schoolteacher father and a
seamstress mother, a brother to their eight-year-old daughter
Nancy. Their parents were fluent in Welsh and passionate about
their culture, yet Thomas and his sister were both raised as
solely English speakers.
Thomas failed to show interest in all aspects of his schooling,
other than English classes and the school paper, to which he
contributed poems. He left his grammar school at the age of 17 to
become a newspaper journalist for the South Wales Daily Post. He
only lasted in the job for 18 months before moving into freelance
journalism, which gave him just enough money to support his poetry
writing and his growing interest in drinking. He socialised with
artists, musicians and poets in the Kardomah Café in central
Swansea, a popular drinking hole that was destroyed during the
bombing of the city in 1941. However, by the time the café was
bombed, Thomas' life had changed dramatically.
Following his foray into journalism, Thomas committed to life as a
poet. His work was frequently published and garnered the attention
of more established poets, but he was paid little or nothing for
them, and relied on small fees, loans from friends and handouts
from wealthy patrons to make ends meet.
In 1936 in a London pub he met Caitlin Macnamara, a 23-year-old
Irish dancer who enjoyed a bohemian lifestyle that included taking
numerous lovers, most notably the artist Augustus John, who was 35
years her senior and responsible for introducing her to her future
husband. Thomas and Macnamara clicked immediately and soon began a
relationship marked by frequent stretches of time apart. They each
moved between London, Wales and Ireland, staying with family and
friends, trying to make ends meet, and spending time together when
possible.
They married in Cornwall in 1937 and continued to live a
peripatetic life together, eventually settling in Laugharne, Wales,
in the Boat House, a primitive property purchased for 3000 pounds
by one of Thomas' patrons. Together they produced three children:
son Llewelyn, born in 1939; daughter Aeronwy, born in 1943; and son
Colm born in 1949; yet their marriage was marked by ongoing
infidelities on both sides.
Deemed physically unfit for the frontline, Thomas worked a desk job
during World War II, writing film scripts for the Ministry of
Information, while still writing poetry and drinking on the side.
Money was increasingly a problem as his and Caitlin's family grew,
with small loans and poetry sales insufficient to meet their needs.
Thomas accepted an invitation from John Malcolm Brinnin (Director
of the Poetry Center in New York) to visit the US on a reading tour
in 1950.
He spent three months travelling the country, performing his poems
and being widely praised for his mellifluous way of speaking. While
he was paid well for his efforts, he had little to show for it when
he returned home, and what was left went towards paying
debts.
Caitlin, unhappy at being left behind to perform domestic duties,
insisted on accompanying Thomas on his next trip, in 1952. He
travelled back to the US alone early in 1953 and it was during this
visit that his new work Under Milk Woodwas performed on
stage for the first time at The Poetry Center, with Thomas playing
First Voice and Reverend Eli Jenkins. This trip to the US was only
six weeks long, but his relationship with his wife had deteriorated
to such a degree that he made plans for another visit as soon as he
returned home.
Thomas made his final trip to New York in October, 1953, for a
series of performances of Under Milk Wood. In the company
of Liz Reitell, an assistant working for Brinnin who had become
Thomas' mistress on his previous trip to New York, he drank heavily
on this visit. After questionable medical care and continued
drinking, Thomas fell into a coma and was taken to hospital by
Reitell.
His wife was called and she immediately flew to see him, and she
was by his side when he died two days later, on the 9 November at
the age of 39. It is often said that Thomas died of alcohol-related
illness, yet his official cause of death was identified as
pneumonia, and doctors found little evidence of cirrhosis of his
liver in the post mortem.
Alex Lalak
Feature: Being Dylan Thomas
Date posted: 2 May 2012Author: STC