#dylan-thomas — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #dylan-thomas, aggregated by home.social.
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SWANSEA: The poet and the oil giant — free exhibition reveals Dylan Thomas’s little-known journey through Iran
A little-known chapter in the life of Dylan Thomas — his journey through Iran for an oil giant — is the subject of a new free exhibition in Swansea.
Pouring Water on Troubled Oil: Dylan Thomas in Iran opened this week at the Dylan Thomas Centre, tracing the Swansea-born poet’s 1951 trip at a pivotal moment in the history of Britain and Iran.
Thomas was hired by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company — the firm now known as BP — to write a publicity film, travelling from Tehran to the oil city of Abadan, then home to the largest refinery in the world.
His visit came against a backdrop of growing industrial unrest and the Iranian oil nationalisation movement, which was challenging British control of one of the world’s most strategically important energy resources.
The exhibition takes its title from the poet’s own sarcastic verdict on the job, delivered in a letter — his role, he wrote, was to help “pour water on troubled oil”.
And the story leads straight back home: crude extracted and refined in Abadan was shipped to Swansea and processed at Llandarcy — Britain’s first oil refinery, less than ten miles from the poet’s birthplace.
Displays on the Atlantic Duchess tanker explosion in Swansea in 1951, alongside photographs of oil infrastructure and workers, reveal the human labour and risk that underpinned the industry on both sides of the connection.
The exhibition brings together rare archival documents, photographs, letters, notebooks and films — drawing on the National Library of Wales, BP Archives, the BBC Written Archives Centre, The National Archives and the Harry Ransom Center in Texas.
At its centre is filmmaker Nariman Massoumi’s 26-minute documentary, which reimagines the journey through archive images and Thomas’s own lyrical reflections — voiced by actor Michael Sheen.
There’s a premiere too: a rare film interview with the acclaimed Iranian writer and filmmaker Ebrahim Golestan, recorded in 2017 before his death in 2023, recalling his meeting with Thomas in Abadan.
Letters written to his wife Caitlin and literary friends reveal the poet’s impressions of Iran and the turbulence of his personal life — displayed alongside his Tehran notebook and a photograph of him resting at a remote roadside.
The archives also show how Thomas landed the job through his often-overlooked career as a film scriptwriter — with officials describing the commission as “one of the most important publicity projects ever undertaken” by the company, and the displays exposing the colonial assumptions built into it.
Thomas never completed the script — but the trip produced the BBC radio broadcast Persian Oil in April 1951, and annotated scripts in the exhibition reveal how producers cut his harrowing description of child destitution witnessed at a hospital.
The exhibition is co-curated by Massoumi and Jo Furber, the centre’s lead curator, and developed from the research behind Massoumi’s 2023 documentary of the same name.
The exhibition runs until 1 July 2027, with free entry — the centre is open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 4.30pm, in the Maritime Quarter, where the main Dylan Thomas exhibition was shortlisted for a national award last year.
For a writer the world knows through Cwmdonkin Park and Laugharne, it offers something new — a fresh angle on Wales’s most celebrated poet, and on how deeply Swansea’s own industrial story was bound up with oil.
Related stories from Swansea Bay News
Dylan Thomas Exhibition in running for national award
The centre’s family-friendly main exhibition shortlisted at the Kids in Museums Awards.A green jewel turns 100 — how Singleton’s Botanical Gardens grew from kitchen plot to city treasure
Another slice of Swansea heritage, a century in the making.Star-studded midsummer celebration of Welsh excellence at Swansea’s Copperworks Distillery
#BayCampus #BP #CoedDarcy #CrymlynBurrows #DylanThomas #DylanThomasCentre #exhibition #Iran #Llandarcy #MichaelSheen #SwanseaUniversity
Welsh cultural stars gather at another landmark of the city’s industrial past. -
SWANSEA: Dylan Thomas museum shortlisted for national award for third year running
A Swansea museum dedicated to Dylan Thomas has been shortlisted for a national award for the third year running.
The Dylan Thomas Exhibition, at the Dylan Thomas Centre in the city’s Maritime Quarter, is again in the running for Best Small Museum at the Kids in Museums Awards.
The exhibition made the same shortlist in both 2024 and 2025, and its place among the 2026 finalists marks a third consecutive nomination.
The recognition centres on the centre’s ‘Love the Words’ exhibition and its family-focused programme, which aims to bring the poet’s work to life for younger visitors.
Run by Swansea Council, the centre celebrates the life and legacy of one of Wales’ best-known literary figures.
Cllr Elliott King, the council’s cabinet member for culture, human rights and equalities, welcomed the shortlisting as a proud moment for the team.
He said Thomas’ imaginative use of language continued to inspire, and that staff were passionate about sharing that creativity with children and families.
King also thanked the charity Kids in Museums, and the families who had put the centre forward for the award.
The exhibition uses interactive displays, multimedia features and original artefacts to explore Thomas’ life, his ties to Swansea, and his worldwide influence.
A children’s trail and a programme of hands-on activities are designed to make the visit accessible for all ages.
Judges praised the centre’s inclusive approach and its community partnerships, singling out its work to support families through the cost-of-living squeeze.
Visitors quoted by the council described the centre as welcoming and creative, praising its calm, sensory-friendly space and opportunities for imaginative play.
The ‘Love the Words’ exhibition opened in October 2014, on what would have been Thomas’ 100th birthday, backed by £935,700 from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
It tells the story of the poet’s life from his birth in Swansea in 1914 to his death in New York in 1953, and remains free to enter.
The Dylan Thomas Centre is open Wednesday to Sunday, from 10am to 4.30pm.
The Kids in Museums Awards are organised by the charity of the same name, with the winners due to be announced in October.
Related stories from Swansea Bay News
Dylan Thomas Exhibition in running for national award
The Swansea centre was shortlisted in the same Best Small Museum category in 2025.A green jewel turns 100: how Singleton’s Botanical Gardens grew from kitchen plot to city treasure
Another Swansea cultural landmark marking a milestone this year.New artist’s impression reveals dramatic transformation planned for Civic Centre site
#CllrElliottKing #DylanThomas #DylanThomasCentre #DylanThomasExhibition #KidsInMuseums #Museum #Swansea #SwanseaCouncil
How Swansea’s waterfront and cultural quarter could be reshaped. -
Sonia Antinori, Acclaimed Italian Playwright And Theatre Director, Dies At 63
Sonia Antinori, the acclaimed Italian playwright, stage actress, theatre director, and translator whose work crossed borders and languages,…
#Italy #Europe #Europa #EU #ArthurSchnitzler #BrennanStreet #DylanThomas #EugeneO'Neill #FrankWedekind #NickBone #ScuolaHolden #SoniaAntinori #ThorntonWilder #TraverseTheatre #WernerSchwab
https://www.europesays.com/italy/28281/ -
https://www.europesays.com/es/630592/ 10 lanzamientos para escuchar esta semana #cupido #DylanThomas #Entertainment #Entretenimiento #ES #España #EvripidisAndHisTragedies #Gepe #Lanzamientos2026 #mecanico #Music #Música #MúsicaEnArgentina #MúsicaEnChile #MúsicaEnCostaRica #MúsicaEnEspaña #pau #pizza #SantiagoMoraes #Spain
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Absolutely good advice, from Dylan and the anonymous sign poet 🙂👍
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Absolutely good advice, from Dylan and the anonymous sign poet 🙂👍
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Absolutely good advice, from Dylan and the anonymous sign poet 🙂👍
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Absolutely good advice, from Dylan and the anonymous sign poet 🙂👍
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Absolutely good advice, from Dylan and the anonymous sign poet 🙂👍
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E tu, padre mio, là sulla triste altura maledicimi,
Benedicimi, ora, con le tue lacrime furiose, te ne prego.
Non andartene docile in quella buona notte.
Infuriati, infuriati contro il morire della luce.
#DylanThomas
Sì, era in "Interstellar", ma oggi mi è tornata in mente per altri motivi... -
The Story Behind Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” and the Poet’s Own Stirring Reading of His Masterpiece
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The Story Behind Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” and the Poet’s Own Stirring Reading of His Masterpiece
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The Story Behind Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” and the Poet’s Own Stirring Reading of His Masterpiece
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The Story Behind Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” and the Poet’s Own Stirring Reading of His Masterpiece
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The Story Behind Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” and the Poet’s Own Stirring Reading of His Masterpiece
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This is right. Art enacted as it was created.
Thank you for the link!
#DylanThomas #poetry #MichaelSheen #UnderTheMilkwood #ageing
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This is right. Art enacted as it was created.
Thank you for the link!
#DylanThomas #poetry #MichaelSheen #UnderTheMilkwood #ageing
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This is right. Art enacted as it was created.
Thank you for the link!
#DylanThomas #poetry #MichaelSheen #UnderTheMilkwood #ageing
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This is right. Art enacted as it was created.
Thank you for the link!
#DylanThomas #poetry #MichaelSheen #UnderTheMilkwood #ageing
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This is right. Art enacted as it was created.
Thank you for the link!
#DylanThomas #poetry #MichaelSheen #UnderTheMilkwood #ageing
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Co mi bylo po tom, v beránčích bílých dnech, že čas mne za stín ruky zvedne ke krovu shluklých vlaštovek, pod měsícem, jenž stoupá zas a zas,
a odplouvaje do spánku, že zaslechnu jej, kterak unáší vzrostlá pole, a já se vzbudím na statku, už provždy v té bezdětné zemi.
Ach, vždyť jsem byl tak mladý a samá hra a v milosti darů jeho, čas už mne svíral zeleného a k smrti zchystaného, ač ve svých řetězech jsem zpíval jako moře.Dylan Thomas / Kapradinový vrch
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Co mi bylo po tom, v beránčích bílých dnech, že čas mne za stín ruky zvedne ke krovu shluklých vlaštovek, pod měsícem, jenž stoupá zas a zas,
a odplouvaje do spánku, že zaslechnu jej, kterak unáší vzrostlá pole, a já se vzbudím na statku, už provždy v té bezdětné zemi.
Ach, vždyť jsem byl tak mladý a samá hra a v milosti darů jeho, čas už mne svíral zeleného a k smrti zchystaného, ač ve svých řetězech jsem zpíval jako moře.Dylan Thomas / Kapradinový vrch
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Co mi bylo po tom, v beránčích bílých dnech, že čas mne za stín ruky zvedne ke krovu shluklých vlaštovek, pod měsícem, jenž stoupá zas a zas,
a odplouvaje do spánku, že zaslechnu jej, kterak unáší vzrostlá pole, a já se vzbudím na statku, už provždy v té bezdětné zemi.
Ach, vždyť jsem byl tak mladý a samá hra a v milosti darů jeho, čas už mne svíral zeleného a k smrti zchystaného, ač ve svých řetězech jsem zpíval jako moře.Dylan Thomas / Kapradinový vrch
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SWANSEA: American poet wins £20,000 Dylan Thomas Prize with debut collection described as ‘an antidote to our tricky times’
An American poet has won the world’s largest literary prize for young writers, taking home £20,000 at a ceremony at Swansea University on International Dylan Thomas Day.
Sasha Debevec-McKenney, 35, was announced as the winner of the 2026 Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize for Joy Is My Middle Name, her debut poetry collection published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in July 2025. The judges reached a unanimous decision.
The collection navigates sex, race, womanhood, addiction, sobriety, consumerism and pop culture — charting what the author describes as the journey of crawling through your twenties and emerging into your thirties.
Irenosen Okojie, chair of judges, said the panel was unanimous in its enthusiasm for the book.
“Incredible. An exuberant, blistering collection full of life, humour and ideas,” she said. “Debevec-McKenney is a ferociously gifted talent. The book is remarkable in the way it galvanises the reader with a sense of intimacy that is authentic and a voice that feels like an antidote to our tricky times.”
The judges praised Debevec-McKenney for condensing huge ideas into something that is “truly a joy to read” — describing the collection as energising, exuberant and robust.
Debevec-McKenney said the win felt completely unbelievable.
“I really love writing poems, it makes life worth living,” she said. “Every emotion I’ve ever had, there’s a poem for it. To get this prize feels completely unbelievable. I’m really honoured.”
International Dylan Thomas Day is observed on 14 May each year — the anniversary of the first public reading of his radio play Under Milk Wood, which took place in New York in 1953. Literature Wales organises events to mark the day, funded by the Welsh Government in consultation with the Thomas family and Dylan Thomas estate. The prize ceremony at Swansea University’s Great Hall has become one of the centrepieces of the annual celebration.
The prize is limited to writers aged 39 or under — a deliberate echo of Thomas’s own lifespan. Thomas achieved all of his celebrated work before his death at the age of 39 in 1953. Previous winners of the prize include Patricia Lockwood, Raven Leilani, Caleb Azumah Nelson and Max Porter — names who have since become significant figures in contemporary literature.
The prize is named after Swansea’s most celebrated poet and writer, and invokes his 39 years of creativity and productivity. It aims to support the writers of today and nurture the talents of tomorrow in his memory.
The six other shortlisted titles were To Rest Our Minds and Bodies by Harriet Armstrong, We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by Colwill Brown, Under the Blue by Suzannah V. Evans, Open, Heaven by Seán Hewitt, and Borderline Fiction by Derek Owusu.
The six shortlisted authors appeared together the evening before the winner announcement at a celebration event at the British Library in London, before travelling to Swansea for the ceremony. The event was opened by Dr Elaine Canning, Director of the Dylan Thomas Prize, and featured a live performance by Côr Y Boro — Borough Welsh Choir.
Previous winners of the prize have included writers who have gone on to significant international recognition, making it one of the most coveted early-career accolades in world literature.
Joy Is My Middle Name is available now through Fitzcarraldo Editions and major booksellers.
Related stories from Swansea Bay News
Dylan Thomas Prize coverage from Swansea Bay News
All our coverage of the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize.Dylan Thomas stories from Swansea Bay News
#culture #DylanThomas #DylanThomasDay #DylanThomasPrize #Literature #poetry #SashaDebevecMcKenney #SwanseaUniversity
The latest news connected to Swansea’s most celebrated writer. -
Catherine Zeta-Jones joins Anthony Hopkins in new Dylan Thomas film — shot in Wales
Two of Wales’s most celebrated actors are reuniting on screen – Catherine Zeta-Jones has joined Sir Anthony Hopkins in a new film adaptation of a Dylan Thomas short story, with filming already underway in Wales.
A Visit to Grandpa’s follows a young boy sent to spend a summer with his charismatic and wildly eccentric grandfather on a remote Welsh farm.
Expecting dull days and strict rules, the boy instead finds himself drawn into a world of storytelling, imagination and mischief.
New first-look images show Zeta-Jones as an as-yet unnamed character – pictured behind a bar in period costume – while Sir Anthony appears as the grandfather, a white-bearded figure with a walking stick in an outdoor rural setting.
The film is directed by DJ Caruso, whose previous credits include Disturbia and Mary. The script was written by Ken Aguado, and filming began on 7 April in Wales.
Hundreds of people gathered in Dolgellau, Gwynedd, earlier this month to watch production in progress.
The cast also includes Aneurin Barnard, known to Welsh audiences for his role in Dunkirk, alongside Artie Wilkinson-Hunt, Geraldine James and Aimee-Ffion Edwards, who starred in Slow Horses.
Sir Anthony Hopkins in A Visit to Grandpa’s, filmed in Wales. Image: Christopher RaphaelSpeaking to Deadline, Sir Anthony said: “This is a powerful and profoundly beautiful story, one that allows me to return to my Welsh roots while exploring the remarkable vision and prose of Dylan Thomas.”
Director Caruso called it one of the great honours of his career to bring the story to screen alongside Sir Anthony.
The short story the film is based on – first published in 1938 – tells of a young boy visiting his grandfather in the Carmarthenshire countryside.
Expecting to be bored, the boy instead becomes fascinated by the old man’s eccentricities – including the moment the whole village grows concerned about the grandfather heading to Llanstephan “with his waistcoat on.”
The story appeared in Thomas’s celebrated 1940 collection Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog.
Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea in 1914 and is arguably Wales’s most celebrated writer and poet. His best-known works include Under Milk Wood and Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night. He died in New York in 1953 aged 39.
His influence stretches far beyond Wales – singer-songwriter Bob Dylan took his stage name from Thomas, former US president Jimmy Carter had a lifelong passion for his work, and Taylor Swift name-dropped the poet on her 2024 album The Tortured Poets Department.
The film is set to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival later this year.
More on Wales’s biggest stars
Our Catherine Zeta-Jones coverage
All our stories on the Swansea-born Oscar winner.Our Anthony Hopkins coverage
All our stories on the Port Talbot-born Oscar winner.CELEBRITY TRAITORS: Port Talbot’s Michael Sheen confirmed for series two
#AVisitToGrandpaS #AnthonyHopkins #BBC #CatherineZetaJones #celebrity #DylanThomas #film
Another major Welsh star making headlines this weekend. -
Through his vivid imagery, musical language, and profound themes, Dylan Thomas captures the interplay between life and death, the loss of innocence, and the passage of time.
#dylanthomas #wolink #nevermorepoem
https://www.nevermorepoem.com/dylan-thomas -
The hand decides.
The world absorbs.
— Animo ✨ -
The hand decides.
The world absorbs.
— Animo ✨ -
Dylan Thomas | Veo a los muchachos del verano
[de «Collected Poems» (1934-1952)]
"Veo a los muchachos del verano en su ruina
echar el diezmo de oro estéril,
descuidar las cosechas, congelar los suelos;
allí, en su calor, las inundaciones de invierno
de amores congelados donde ellos buscan a sus niñas,
y ahogan en sus mareas las cargas de manzana."[...] Seguir leyendo en: https://pth.bz/T5b1nMa
Post by @locagonia
#DylanThomas #locagonia #EscritoresMalditos -
Dylan Thomas | Veo a los muchachos del verano
[de «Collected Poems» (1934-1952)]
"Veo a los muchachos del verano en su ruina
echar el diezmo de oro estéril,
descuidar las cosechas, congelar los suelos;
allí, en su calor, las inundaciones de invierno
de amores congelados donde ellos buscan a sus niñas,
y ahogan en sus mareas las cargas de manzana."[...] Seguir leyendo en: https://pth.bz/T5b1nMa
Post by @locagonia
#DylanThomas #locagonia #EscritoresMalditos -
The Jama: Alister Johnson x Dylan Thomas x John Kong @ Jama - 13 Mar feat. Alister Johnson, Dylan-Thomas, John Kong
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The poetry of Dylan Thomas stands as a powerful challenge to the rational modern sensibility that dominated much of twentieth-century intellectual culture.
#dylanthomas #wolink #nevermorepoem
https://www.nevermorepoem.com/dylan-thomas -
Booked my tickets for Under Milk Wood at The Sherman
#theatre #Wales #Cardiff #DylanThomas
https://www.southwalesmagazine.co.uk/post/don-t-miss-under-milk-wood-at-sherman-theatre-this-spring
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Booked my tickets for Under Milk Wood at The Sherman
#theatre #Wales #Cardiff #DylanThomas
https://www.southwalesmagazine.co.uk/post/don-t-miss-under-milk-wood-at-sherman-theatre-this-spring
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Booked my tickets for Under Milk Wood at The Sherman
#theatre #Wales #Cardiff #DylanThomas
https://www.southwalesmagazine.co.uk/post/don-t-miss-under-milk-wood-at-sherman-theatre-this-spring
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Booked my tickets for Under Milk Wood at The Sherman
#theatre #Wales #Cardiff #DylanThomas
https://www.southwalesmagazine.co.uk/post/don-t-miss-under-milk-wood-at-sherman-theatre-this-spring
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Booked my tickets for Under Milk Wood at The Sherman
#theatre #Wales #Cardiff #DylanThomas
https://www.southwalesmagazine.co.uk/post/don-t-miss-under-milk-wood-at-sherman-theatre-this-spring
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Repetition in Dylan Thomas’s poetry is not mere ornament but a structural force that intensifies emotion, amplifies rhythm, and builds dramatic pressure within the poem.
#dylanthomas #wolink #nevermorepoem
https://www.nevermorepoem.com/dylan-thomas -
The enduring appeal of Dylan Thomas lies in his ability to articulate complexity without dissolving it into neat solutions. His poems confront fundamental questions about life, death, time, faith, and language.
#dylanthomas #wolink #nevermorepoem
https://www.nevermorepoem.com/dylan-thomas -
Thinking this "old character" status needs to be wrung, oh so so much.
I'm blaming Dylan Thomas and "Under Milk Wood" for putting these sorts of ideas in my head.
It's clear we all need to let the Milk Wood nature emerge.
#DylanThomas #UnderMilkWood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frsg67qh-EE -
Thinking this "old character" status needs to be wrung, oh so so much.
I'm blaming Dylan Thomas and "Under Milk Wood" for putting these sorts of ideas in my head.
It's clear we all need to let the Milk Wood nature emerge.
#DylanThomas #UnderMilkWood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frsg67qh-EE -
Thinking this "old character" status needs to be wrung, oh so so much.
I'm blaming Dylan Thomas and "Under Milk Wood" for putting these sorts of ideas in my head.
It's clear we all need to let the Milk Wood nature emerge.
#DylanThomas #UnderMilkWood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frsg67qh-EE -
Thinking this "old character" status needs to be wrung, oh so so much.
I'm blaming Dylan Thomas and "Under Milk Wood" for putting these sorts of ideas in my head.
It's clear we all need to let the Milk Wood nature emerge.
#DylanThomas #UnderMilkWood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frsg67qh-EE -
Thinking this "old character" status needs to be wrung, oh so so much.
I'm blaming Dylan Thomas and "Under Milk Wood" for putting these sorts of ideas in my head.
It's clear we all need to let the Milk Wood nature emerge.
#DylanThomas #UnderMilkWood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frsg67qh-EE -
Today's poem:
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
- by Dylan Thomashttps://www.tumblr.com/ukdamo/808068029280813056/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night?source=share
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Today's poem:
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
- by Dylan Thomashttps://www.tumblr.com/ukdamo/808068029280813056/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night?source=share
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Today's poem:
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
- by Dylan Thomashttps://www.tumblr.com/ukdamo/808068029280813056/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night?source=share
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Are Sharks playoff hopes fading after fourth straight loss vs. Avalanche? https://www.rawchili.com/nhl/450500/ #Avalanche #Colorado #ColoradoAvalanche #ColoradoAvalanche #DylanThomas #Hockey #KieferSherwood #NHL #RageAgainstTheDyingOfTheLight #SanJose #SanJoseHockey #Sharks #TheSharks #YaroslavAskarov
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The Story Behind Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” and the Poet’s Own Stirring Reading of His Masterpiece
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The Story Behind Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” and the Poet’s Own Stirring Reading of His Masterpiece
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The Story Behind Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” and the Poet’s Own Stirring Reading of His Masterpiece
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The Story Behind Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” and the Poet’s Own Stirring Reading of His Masterpiece
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The Story Behind Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” and the Poet’s Own Stirring Reading of His Masterpiece
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The ethics of listening
Things come to be, and what they are is nothing but the way that they move; there is nothing that is that is not subject to change and dissolution. To “rage against the dying of the light” (Dylan Thomas) is to fail to see that the only way to live is to stay out of the way of what is coming to be, and let it become what it is to be.
If we listen to the stream, rather than trying to dam its flow, we find that we ourselves are no more than fleeting eddies on the bright water, and what is true is what the moment calls out. Then ethics is for us no longer a matter of what is written, but what is heard.
Light is only visible in the shadows; life needs death as up needs down. To see this for itself – see it, rather than working it out – dissolves our bitter grasp on outcomes, and leaves us free to find out the grain in things. To surrender to change – yes, and to decay – is to become free to live inside the pattern of what is necessary, rather than scratching at the surface of facticity.
Strangely, this is in no sense defeatism. Our freedom to act in accordance with what is might just as well involve us as the means of change ourselves: the tyrant’s brittle effort to resist the necessity of change is worn away to sand in the stream, carried down by the flow of what is true, by the slow processes of care and kindness.
To sit still, listening, still enough that the fragility and contingency of all that appears to be becomes clear, like the settling out of sediment in a pond that has been disturbed but is now at rest, is to find our own current in the stream of what is coming to be. If we do, then the smallest moment opens on to the limitless field that is the ground itself. There is nothing to wait for: what is is this.
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The ethics of listening
Things come to be, and what they are is nothing but the way that they move; there is nothing that is that is not subject to change and dissolution. To “rage against the dying of the light” (Dylan Thomas) is to fail to see that the only way to live is to stay out of the way of what is coming to be, and let it become what it is to be.
If we listen to the stream, rather than trying to dam its flow, we find that we ourselves are no more than fleeting eddies on the bright water, and what is true is what the moment calls out. Then ethics is for us no longer a matter of what is written, but what is heard.
Light is only visible in the shadows; life needs death as up needs down. To see this for itself – see it, rather than working it out – dissolves our bitter grasp on outcomes, and leaves us free to find out the grain in things. To surrender to change – yes, and to decay – is to become free to live inside the pattern of what is necessary, rather than scratching at the surface of facticity.
Strangely, this is in no sense defeatism. Our freedom to act in accordance with what is might just as well involve us as the means of change ourselves: the tyrant’s brittle effort to resist the necessity of change is worn away to sand in the stream, carried down by the flow of what is true, by the slow processes of care and kindness.
To sit still, listening, still enough that the fragility and contingency of all that appears to be becomes clear, like the settling out of sediment in a pond that has been disturbed but is now at rest, is to find our own current in the stream of what is coming to be. If we do, then the smallest moment opens on to the limitless field that is the ground itself. There is nothing to wait for: what is is this.
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Trefnu fy nghasgliad bach o lyfrau #DylanThomas — well gen i’r Aldine Paperbacks o’r 60au — a dod ar draws y slip yma yn fy nghopi Under Milk Wood: pwy oedd Mrs Banyard, tybed, a wnaeth hi adolygu’r cyfrol mewn rhyw gyfnodolyn?
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Trefnu fy nghasgliad bach o lyfrau #DylanThomas — well gen i’r Aldine Paperbacks o’r 60au — a dod ar draws y slip yma yn fy nghopi Under Milk Wood: pwy oedd Mrs Banyard, tybed, a wnaeth hi adolygu’r cyfrol mewn rhyw gyfnodolyn?
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The poetry of Dylan Thomas is shaped by a wide spectrum of emotional experiences, from childhood wonder and romantic desire to grief, fear, and spiritual longing.
#dylanthomas #wolink #nevermorepoem
www.nevermorepoem.com/dylan-thomas -
Dylan Thomas wrote some of the best-known English-language poems. However, as a student, he also engaged in repeated plagiarism. What does that mean?
https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2026/01/14/the-strange-plagiarism-case-of-dylan-thomas/
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Dylan Thomas wrote some of the best-known English-language poems. However, as a student, he also engaged in repeated plagiarism. What does that mean?
https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2026/01/14/the-strange-plagiarism-case-of-dylan-thomas/