The Dead Writers Club was born out of the fact that there are very few living writers out there that are worth reading. (Naturally, this is because we all yearn to live in the past)
Do you consistently feel as though you are living in the wrong time period? We do too.
This blog is a celebration of literature and the greats who wrote before us.
Today in 1953, Welsh poet Dylan Thomas died, presumably from pneumonia, which was not helped by a weakened liver. He was only 39 years old.
Dylan Thomas is perhaps the most renowned Welsh poet of all time. His rhythmic lyricism is legendary and mimicked often by writers of almost every poetry style. One of our very favorite works by Thomas will always be Under Milk Wood, a drama written in 1953 and performed on the radio in 1954 - later adapted for the screen in the seventies. (In fact, a wonderful recording of it can be found on iTunes) Thomas is reported to have said once that Under Milk Wood was developed in response to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, “as a way of reasserting the evidence of beauty in the world”. Well, we can assure you… it is beautifully written.
What is perhaps so striking about Dylan Thomas’ writing is the way in which he writes death. It never needs to be said “this is death” or “this is why death is”. It is almost as if Thomas lifts the veil of death just enough to let us all get a glimpse and then he poses the questions to us in his wonderfully rhapsodic verse.
Though it is true that Dylan Thomas had a severe dependency on alcohol and we here at DWC in no way encourage irresponsible binge drinking, we hope you will raise your glass tonight in honor of Mr. Thomas and perhaps recite one of his poems with friends, for truly, that is where his poems are best spoken aloud.
Write on in peace, Mr. Thomas!
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