Monday, 19 May 2014

Dylan Thomas



Do not go gentle into that good night
Old age should burn and rage at close of day
Rage rage against the dying of the light
.
A Dylan poem about the image of his father dying, so much pain and anguish expressed in his genius,  his ability to describe through prose the deep story of the human condition. In Under Milk Wood he described a day in the life of a Welsh town . The stories of the individuals associated with the town, the inhabitants their lives and the rhythm of their lives through one of the greatest English speaking poems.Its not an easy read but taken in parts or, listen to Richard Burton reciting the poem in his rich, deep timbre voice, cantering along, words flowing under the hoof like pebbles thrown up in the air, each a crafted syllable, point and counterpoint, - genius. 

To being in at the beginning.
It is Spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible black, the cobblestones silent and the hunched, courtiers and rabbits wood limping invisible down the sloeblack, slow black, crow black, fishing boat bobbing sea. The houses are blind as moles (though moles see fine to-night in the snowting, velvet dingles)  or blind as captain' Cat there in the muffled middle by the pump and the town clock, the shops in mourning, the Welfare Hall in widows weeds And all the people of the lulled and dumbfounded town are sleeping now.

Hush, the babies are sleeping, the farmers, the tradesmen and pensioners, cobblers, schoolteacher, postman and publican, the undertaker and the fancy woman, drunkard, dressmaker, preacher, policeman the webfoot cocklewoman and the tidy wives. .....................
As I said its not an easy read but it sounded mystically beautiful when read by Richard Burton, the power of his voice the rhythm of his delivery are one of life's pleasures.
Dylan Thomas was a flawed genius of course his riotous relationship with the love of his life, Caitlin. The deep animosity particularly on her side, bred through argument and continuous rowing, his apparent indifference, a defence mechanism to her hostility led to their separation and his move away from Wales to the well heeled poetry speaking circuit in the US of A.
His womanising and heavy drinking ruined not only his health but his relationship with people who truly cared for him and he died with his genius still burning deep like a sulphurous fire.   


    

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