The Poems of Dylan Thomas: Annotated Centenary Edition

The most complete and current edition of Dylan Thomas' collected poetry in a beautiful gift edition celebrating the centenary of his birth

The reputation of Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) as one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century has not waned in the fifty years since his death. A Welshman with a passion for the English language, Thomas’s singular poetic voice has been admired and imitated, but never matched.

This exciting, newly edited annotated edition offers a more complete and representative collection of Dylan Thomas’s poetic works than any previous edition. Edited by leading Dylan Thomas scholar John Goodby from the University of Swansea, The Poems of Dylan Thomas contains all the poems that appeared in Collected Poems 1934-1952, edited by Dylan Thomas himself, as well as poems from the 1930-1934 notebooks and poems from letters, amatory verses, occasional poems, the verse film script for “Our Country,” and poems that appear in his “radio play for voices,” Under Milk Wood. Showing the broad range of Dylan Thomas’s oeuvre as never before, this new edition places Thomas in the twenty-first century, with an up-to-date introduction by Goodby whose notes and annotations take a pluralistic approach.

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. 

John Goodby, scholar, poet, and translator, is Senior Lecturer at the University of Swansea and author of The Poetry of Dylan Thomas: Under the Spelling Wall, Illenium, and A True Prize.