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Cultural depictions of Dylan Thomas

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Dylan Marlais Thomas (19141953) was a Welsh poet and writer who along with his work has been remembered and referred to by a number of artists in various media.

In art

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Alfred Janes' 1934 portrait of Thomas

Art inspired by Thomas

  • In the 1940s the Welsh artist and contemporary of Thomas, Ceri Richards, created several works directly inspired by him, notably three paintings collectively entitled, from the poem of the same name, ‘The force that through the green fuse,’ which he later reworked into lithographs. After Thomas’s death in 1953, Richards produced a series of works under the rubric Homage to Dylan Thomas. He continued to work on Thomas inspired art work and in 1965 created Twelve Lithographs for Dylan Thomas.[5]
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In literature

  • The poem "Thou Shalt Not Kill" by American poet Kenneth Rexroth bears the subtitle "A Memorial for Dylan Thomas".
  • In issue #26 of the Vertigo Comics series Preacher, Thomas is depicted as a previous acquaintance of the character Cassidy. Cassidy is with Thomas when he collapses outside the White Horse Tavern, Thomas's last words being "The trouble with you fuckin' Irish is, you don't know how to drink..."
  • In his 1963 book Hopscotch, Julio Cortázar makes several references to Thomas.
  • In Charles Bukowski's short story This is what killed Dylan Thomas from 1973 book South of no North[6], the protagonist makes several references to Dylan Thomas.
  • The 1986 Kingsley Amis novel The Old Devils features frequent references to "Brydan", a thinly disguised characterization of Thomas.[7]
  • In her 2010 book Matched, Ally Condie references Thomas' poem "Do not go gentle into that good night".
  • In Chapter 13 of his 2012 novel All I Did Was Shoot My Man (A Leonid McGill mystery) crime novelist Walter Mosley recounts a street poet's talk in a New York bar:
"....among many of the recognised and lauded lights of the New York poetry scene the allure of Dylan Thomas has faded... They criticise everything from his depth of linguistic complexity to the obvious melodrama of his most well-known works. But what these poetry pontiffs fail to understand was that Thomas was a people's poet, a man that connected song and metre and the concerns of every human being living their lives and suffering the consequences. His work, in its every repetition, fights for the survival and lifeblood or a form that most so-called great poets have moved beyond the reach of the common man ..."
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In music

Settings of Thomas's work

  • Igor Stravinsky wrote "In memoriam Dylan Thomas: Dirge canons and song" (1954) for tenor voice, string quartet, and four trombones, based on "Do not go gentle into that good night." (Stravinsky and Thomas were considering a joint new opera).[8]
  • Paul Dirmeikis set to music the poems "Song" and "Your Pain Shall Be A Music".
  • American composer Robert Manno set the following poems to music:
    • "Fern Hill" (1973) for baritone and chamber ensemble, premiered in New York City 1974;
    • "And Death Shall Have No Dominion" for chorus and harp (2001), premiered at St. Martin's Church in Laugharne, commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Thomas' death in 2003;
    • "In my craft or sullen art" for baritone and orchestra (2007), serving as 'Dylan's Aria' in a recently completed (2013) full-length opera on Thomas' last days: Dylan & Caitlin (libretto by Welsh playwright Gwynne Edwards).[9][10]
  • Composer David Diamond set I Have Longed to Move Away for voice and piano in 1968.
  • In 1981, American composer William Mayer, set the poem "Fern Hill" to music for a trio of soprano, flute and harp.
  • John Cale set a number of Thomas's poems to music: There was a saviour, Do not go gentle into that good night, On a Wedding Anniversary and Lie still, sleep becalmed, recording them in his 1989 album Words for the Dying and (except for the first one) in his 1992 solo live album Fragments of a Rainy Season. Notable among these is "Do not go gentle into that good night", which he performed on stage in the concert held in Cardiff in 1999 to celebrate the opening of the Welsh Assembly. He also has a song titled "A Child's Christmas in Wales," the title being an homage to Dylan Thomas's work but with different lyrics and subject.
  • In 1996, Belgian composer Henri Lazarof, released Encounters with Dylan Thomas, for soprano & chamber ensemble, comprising ten compositions based on the poet's work; including "Your Pain Shall be a Music", "In My Craft or Sullen Art" and "Shall gods be said to thump the clouds".
  • American vocal group Cantus, performed two poems set to choral works, with music by Kenneth Jennings, on their 2001 album ...Against the Dying of the Light. The two poems are combined under the title "Two Laments on Dylan Thomas".
  • 2002: A Child's Christmas in Wales for SATB choir and orchestra, written by Matthew Harris.[11]
  • 2003: The Dylan Thomas Jazz Suite 'Twelve Poems' set for Quintet and Voice, by Jen Wilson, commissioned by the Dylan Thomas Centre.[12] Issued on CD in 2010.[13]
  • Donovan, in his 2004 album Beat Cafe, set to music the poem "Do not go gentle into that good night".[14]
  • Singer-songwriter Keith James has set a number of Thomas' works to music.[15]
  • 2014: Composer Andrew Lewis set Fern Hill to music for Orchestra and Electronics. This used an actual recording of Thomas' speech, in which Thomas takes the melodic line. The work was premiered at Bangor University on 3 October and was performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, as part of the "My Friend Dylan Thomas" event.[16]
  • Rogers and Clarke set "The Hand that Signed the Paper" to music.[citation needed]

Musical compositions inspired by Thomas works

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In film and television

Depictions of Thomas

Other

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References

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