Dylan Thomas (1915-1953)

A selective list of literary criticism for the twentieth-century Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, favoring signed articles by recognized scholars and articles published in peer-reviewed sources


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introduction

"Dylan Thomas." Poetry Archive. Directors, Andrew Motion & Richard Carrington.

"Dylan Thomas." Encyclopedia-type introduction to Dylan Thomas's themes, style and techniques, with a biography and text for many of his best known poems. Poetry Foundation.

"Dylan Thomas." A brief introduction from the Academy of American Poets.

"Dylan Thomas." An introduction to Dylan Thomas from the BBC, includes information about his writing and places he lived in Wales.

Phillips, Ivan. "Dylan Thomas." A substantial introduction to Dylan Thomas, from the Literary Encyclopedia 2 April 2001 [subscription service].

literary criticism

Balakier, James J."Ambiguous Reversal of Dylan Thomas's 'In Country Sleep.'" The author notes that "Among the relatively few father-daughter poems in the canon, this poem by Dylan Thomas is striking for its frank portrayal of a caring though conflicted state of fatherhood." Papers on Language and Literature 32 (Winter 1996) [Questia subscription service].

Craik, Roger. "Green and dying in chains: Dylan Thomas's 'Fern Hill' and Kenneth Grahame's 'The Golden Age.'" On a writer who influenced Dylan Thomas, whose stories, says Craik, "written about children but for adults, revert to the Wordsworthian and Blakean ideas of children as 'illuminati' whose perception is far superior to that of the unimaginative, pleasure-stifling adults ('Olympians') who control them." Twentieth Century Literature 1998 [free at jstor].

Cyr, Marc D. "Dylan Thomas's 'Do not go gentle into that good night.'" Says the author, "Dylan Thomas's 'Do not go gentle into that good night' has been noted to bear the influence of and even echo W. B. Yeats, especially "Lapis Luzuli," and, secondarily via this poem, Shakespeare's King Lear." Papers on Language and Literature 34 (Spring 1998) [Questia subscription service].


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