Dylan Marlais Thomas was born on October 27, 1914, in Swansea, Wales. His father taught English literature at the local grammar school, so Thomas grew up in a household that valued language — he was reading Shakespeare while most kids his age were still on nursery rhymes. He didn’t attend university. Instead, he left school at sixteen, worked briefly as a junior reporter for the South Wales Daily Post, and dove into poetry with an intensity that bordered on obsession.
By the time he turned twenty, Thomas had released his first collection, *18 Poems*, catching the attention of London’s literary scene. The poems were dense, musical, and strange — filled with biblical rhythm and biological imagery, treating the body and the cosmos as equally mysterious. He wasn’t mimicking anyone; his voice was already unique and unmistakably his.
“He moved to London, married the dancer Caitlin Macnamara in 1937, and spent the following years crafting poems, short stories, and scripts for the BBC.”
Their marriage was passionate but chaotic. Both drank heavily, money was always tight, and Thomas had a knack for charming people into lending him things — money, rooms, patience — that he often failed to repay. Friends adored him, even if they sometimes felt like strangling him.
During World War II, Thomas remained in Britain and created some of his most celebrated works, such as "A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London" and "Poem in October." He also began writing *Under Milk Wood*, the radio play set in a fictional Welsh seaside town that would become one of the BBC's most cherished works.
