On the Air with Dylan Thomas: The Broadcasts

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New Directions Publishing, 1992 - Literary Criticism - 305 pages
A book full of surprises and delights, On the Air with Dylan Thomas presents all of Thomas's BBC radio work (with the exception of "Under Milk Wood", which is available separately). Thomas served his broadcasting apprenticeship as a teenager with his friend Daniel Jones. They set up a "station" between the second and first floors of the Jones' home "Warmley," dubbing it the Warmley Broadcasting Company. Then, starting in 1943 and continuing to his death, Thomas often sat behind a BBC microphone, variously giving radio talks, introducing poetry selections, participating in round-table discussions, reading dramas, essays, and poems. His was a glorious voice and he had a special case and inventiveness on the air.
 

Selected pages

Contents

Reminiscences of Childhood
1
Quite Early One Morning
9
Reminiscences of Childhood
15
Memories of Christmas
21
Welsh Poetry
29
On Reading Poetry Aloud
51
Poets on Poetry
55
Poems of Wonder
63
A Dearth of Comic Writers
191
The English Festival of Spoken Poetry
197
Living in Wales
201
Edward Thomas
207
On Reading Ones Own Poems
213
Swansea and the Arts
217
Three Poems
223
Poetic Licence
227

The Londoner
75
Wilfred Owen
93
Margate Past and Present
103
How to Begin a Story
121
What Has Happened to English Poetry?
127
Holiday Memory
137
Walter de la Mare as a Prose Writer
145
The Crumbs of One Mans Year
151
Sir Philip Sidney
159
The Poet and his Critic
169
Return Journey
177
Persian Oil
241
The Festival Exhibition
245
Edgar Lee Masters
253
Home Town Swansea
259
The International Eisteddfod
267
A Visit to America
273
Laugharne
279
BBC Engagements Calendar
282
Works Cited
305
Copyright

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About the author (1992)

Dylan Thomas, born in Swansea in 1914, is perhaps Wales' best-known writer, widely considered to be one of the major poets of the 20th century: many of his greatest poems, such as Fern Hill" and "'Do not go gentle into that good night"' are beloved and widely studied. As well as poetry, Dylan Thomas wrote numerous short stories and scripts for film and radio-none more popular than his radio play Under Milk Wood. He led a fascinating and tempestuous life, which ended all too soon in 1953 when he collapsed and died in New York City shortly after his 39th birthday. "

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