Advantages: Fantastic words that are wonderful read or listened to. Disadvantages: None for me
While clearing out some stuff I came across an old audio cassette of DylanThomas's 'Under Milk Wood' from when I did my English A Level. Sadly the cassettes are no use to me anymore, cassettes being a victim of the technology revolution. But just seeing the cassettes sent me out to get a new copy of the book, I just had to read it again. Sadly no hypnotic Welsh voice of Richard Burton, but still the wonderful words sounded Welsh in my brain as I read the words in front of me. As I read about 'the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboat-bobbing sea', I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck tingling - God I love that book!!
For those of you who do not know the book, it is actually a 'play for radio' written in in 1953 by the wonderful DylanThomas. It actually started out with the title 'Quite Early One Morning ...
Advantages: An unusual but highly interesting play for radio Disadvantages: None
,
O please to keep thy lovely eye
On all poor creatures born to die.
And every evening at sun-down
I ask a blessing on the town,
For whether we last the night or no
I'm sure is always touch and go.
We are not wholly bad or good
Who live our lives under Milk Wood,
And thou, I know, wilt be the first
To see our best side, not our worst.
O let us see another day!
Bless us all this night, I pray,
And to the sun we all will bow
And say, Good -bye- but just for now!
Under Milk Wood was originally broadcast by BBC Radio.
DylanThomas showed incredible writing skills as he penned the play. For anyone who has never read any of his work the play may seem strange, even disjointed. But as you re read the words it becomes crystal clear.
Under Milk Wood can be found on the Amazon website for as little a a couple of pounds.
If ...
Advantages: a brilliant read Disadvantages: slightly confusing read
Who was DylanThomas? Even today, no one really knows. From his early years of growing up in Swansea in Wales, to his family life; from his beginnings as a writer to his tours of America; from his early days of alcohol abuse to his death in New York in 1953: DylanThomas has become an icon for lovers, literature fans and poets. DylanThomas has become a cult figure for Welsh travellers of today an inspiration for every young lad heading from Swansea to London, into the new life. But it is DylanThomas’s debauched lifestyle that perhaps draws people towards him. In the book The DylanThomas Murders, by David N. Thomas, we begin to get an idea of who DylanThomas might have been, reimagining the poet without attempting to stick to the known facts. Reading this book, D. Thomas still remains a mystery, but David Thomas’ ...
