Thomas was born on October 27, 1914. His father was a schoolmaster in English at the local grammar school. Though considered a cold and bitter man who resented his position as a teacher, Thomas feared, respected, and deeply loved his father, and in some sense his life appeared to be an attempt to realize his father's frustrated dream of being a great poet.
             His real education came from the freedom he was given to read anything in his father's suprisingly well-stocked library of modern and nineteenth-century poetry and other works. During the early 1930s Thomas began to develop the serious drinking problem that plagued him throughout the remainder of his life. He also began to develop a public persona as a jokester and storyteller. However, his notebooks reveal that many of his most highly regarded poems were either written or drafted during this period and that he had also begun to experiment with short prose pieces. In May of 1933 his poem "And Death Shall Have No Dominion" was published in the New English Weekly, marking the first appearance of his work in a London journal.
             During the early 1950s Thomas wrote several of his most poignant poems, including "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" His fourth and final American tour began on October 19, 1953 and ended with his death from a massive overdose of alcohol on November 9.
             Dylan Thomas is an extraordinarily individualistic writer. Thomas greatly enjoyed his success but lived recklessly and drank heavily. Thomas's themes are traditional: love, death, mutability: and over the years he seemed to pass from religious doubt to joyous faith in God. His complex imagery is based on many sources, including Welsh legend, Christian symbolism, witchcraft, astronomy, and Freudian psychology; the private myth he created makes his early poetry hard to understand.
             Written for Thomas's dying father, who had been ill for many years, it radiates with intensity and is poignant in the emo...