Collected Poems

by Dylan Thomas

A classic New Directions book revised for the 21st Century. Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) prepared this volume in 1952―the author's choice of the ninety poems he felt would best represent his work up to that time―and it was published by New Directions in 1953 as The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas , shortly after his death. This book was then and remained, for all practical purposes, Thomas's "collected" poems and in that sense complete. However, with the 1971 publication of the 192 poems in The Poems of Dylan Thomas (also now available in a revised edition), Thomas's Collected Poems has naturally evolved to become Thomas's Selected Poems .

Thomas wrote his last poem, "Prologue," especially to begin this collection, and addressed it to "my readers, the strangers." Two unfinished poems are included in this "Elegy," prepared by Vernon Watkins, and "In Country Heaven," prepared by Daniel Jones―both Welsh poets were life-long friends of Dylan Thomas. Textual corrections discovered over the course of forty years have now been incorporated, and a complete index of titles and first lines, as well as a brief chronology of the author's life, have been added.

As it has for half a century, this book includes the best of Dylan Thomas's poetry―"Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines," "The Force that Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower," "And Death Shall Have No Dominion," "Poem in October," "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night," "The Hunchback in the Park," "In My Craft or Sullen Art," "In Country Sleep," and Thomas's poignant reflection on his youth, "Fern Hill."

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Fiction, Literature, 20th Century, British Literature, Collections

203 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

Dylan Marlais Thomas (1914-1953) was a Welsh poet who wrote in English. Many regard him as one of the 20th century's most influential poets.

In addition to poetry, Thomas wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, with the latter frequently performed by Thomas himself. His public readings, particularly in America, won him great acclaim; his booming, at times, ostentatious voice, with a subtle Welsh lilt, became almost as famous as his works. His best-known work includes the "play for voices" Under Milk Wood and the celebrated villanelle for his dying father, "Do not go gentle into that good night." Appreciative critics have also noted the superb craftsmanship and compression of poems such as "In my craft or sullen art" and the rhapsodic lyricism of Fern Hill.

Reviews

[Genis Cardona]

Malauradament, tret de comptades excepcions, no he aconseguit connectar amb la poesia de Dylan Thomas, pel que la valoració cal entendre-la des de la vessant més subjectiva (com totes, és clar). Per mi un poema ha d’arribar al cor sense passar pel cap ni pels ulls, com ho fan els versos de Joan Margarit. No ha de ser necessari complementar cada vers amb una pàgina de notes on un expert aporti la seva interpretació, sovint basada en textos externs al propi poema (cartes del poeta, entrevistes,…). Alguns poemes són tan esotèrics que romanen inaccessibles fins i tot després de llegir les notes.

Poeta obsessionat amb la mort, amb alguns versos genials, però, com: I drew the white sheet over the islands / and the coins on my eyelids sang like shells

Lloat per Bob Dylan (obvi) i altres, massa intel·lectual / obscur per mi.