Too Brave to Dream: Encounters With Modern Art

by R.S. Thomas

A collection of poems by R.S. Thomas, published here for the first time alongside the works of modern art that inspired them. The poems and notes were found in two volumes on Thomas's bookshelves when he died, Herbert Read's Art Now (1933/1948) and Surrealism (1936), edited by Read and containing essays by key figures in the Surrealist movement. Thomas's vivid engagements with the works of art produce a series of dramatic encounters haunted by the recurring presence of conflict and by the struggle of the artist who, in a frequently menacing world, is "too brave to dream."

Genres: Poetry

112 pages, Paperback

Published September 29, 2016

About the author

Ronald Stuart Thomas (1913-2000) (otherwise stylised as R.S. Thomas) was a Welsh poet and Anglican priest who was noted for his nationalism, spirituality and deep dislike of the anglicisation of Wales.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

It never ceases to amaze me how many poems dead authors write - how do they do it? Is there a secret compound somewhere, where recently dead poets are ressurrected and forced to write new poems? Or do they just leave poems on bits of paper hidden in obscure places, not to be discovered until years after their passing? E.g. inside modern art books they owned, responding to the images in them? The latter, slightly less preposterous, idea is in fact the truth behind this slim book. The poems and reproductions of the art works they respond to are printed facing each other. It's an interesting addition to the ouvre of one of my favourite poets.

[Gregory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Several of these poems are excellent at doing what R.S. Thomas does best - examining the experience of God's absence.