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Thomas Dylan 1914 - 1953 (39)

Though lovers be lost, love shall not;


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Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) was a Welsh poet, one of the most important of the 20th century. Born in Swansea, Wales on October 27, 1914, his father was a senior and taught English. Thomas was a sick child and a mischievous student with low grades in all lessons except English. From the age of 16 he began to write stories and poems and spending his time at the pub drinking beers and flirting girls. In 1933, at the age of 19, he wrote the poem "And death shall have no dominion" causing the Editors' interest in London.

The following year, his first collection of poems was published. He moved to London where she met Irish dancer Kettlin Maknamara in 1937, whom she married a few months after and stayed together until the end. They had 3 children, who grew up in Wales; Ketlin became a housewife renouncing her artistic dreams and Thomas was writing. In 1939 a collection of 16 poems and seven of the 20 short stories that he had written for magazines was published and in 1940 a book with ten stories. Sales were minimal with the result of poverty and borrowing from relatives and friends in order to survive.

Thomas did not take part in the Second World War because of his asthma and in 1945 he was recruited as a BBC announcer. His voice became known throughout the country and soon the people discovered and his poetry. In 1950 he accepted a proposition and had a tour in America, where especially in New York, he had times of glory, as an early “rock star”. The halls were filled with people - mostly women - who wanted to see him and listen reciting his poems. He quickly became famous in America, with his personal life exciting the audience as he drank excessively, hanged out at the most famous clubs, was sleeping with a different woman every night. He made four tours in the USA from 1950 to 1953, meanwhile he was returning to Wales for detoxification and trying to dedicate himself to poetry and his relationship with his wife who felt neglected and betrayed.

In the autumn of 1953 he began his fourth tour in America with his fragile health deteriorated. He complained that he felt weak and had difficulty breathing, but he continued to drink and party. On November 3, 1953, he returned to the hotel with pride that he had drunk 18 straight whiskies. The next morning his doctor gave him morphine, believing that he had been overworked. As time went by, his condition deteriorated and he could not breathe until he fell into a coma. He was taken to the hospital and without ever waking up, he died on 9 November.