Fern Hill by Dylan Thoma

There are a lot of poets that live in depression and are deeply misunderstood, unrecognized for their talents until long after their death. Dylan Thomas was not like that. When he lived, he was the subject of much interest and his poetry was well-known for its unique qualities. Dylan Thomas had an eccentric, unconventional style that he used to great effect in "Fern Hill."

Thomas’s childhood had a strong impact on his later life and writing. He was born in Swansea on the southern coast of Wales in 1914 (Murdy). It seems that his days here had a lasting effect on him, for many of his later works describe the natural beauty of Wales. He could be considered one of the greatest Welsh poets, but really his writing does not reflect Welsh life, just the lovely countryside and seashore he grew up in. A vital figure in his life was his father, schoolteacher David Thomas, who nurtured his son’s love for poetry from early on by reading Shakespeare’s work to him in his infancy (“Thomas, Dylan”). It may be that Dylan Thomas became a poet to fulfill the aspirations of his father. Thomas began writing poetry early on, most likely due to his father’s efforts. Growing up in Wales and influence from his father affected Thomas’s upcoming literary career.

With regard to his later years, Thomas had a life cut short at thirty-nine by alcoholism, but in the short time he lived he was very active. The most prolific period of his life was from 1930 to 1934, in which time he left school, became a reporter, and left that job to pursue poetry (Knepper 3:1190). He must have been a perfectionist, because he did not publish his work in any sort of hury. Rather, he held on to them for innumerous revisions. His first major releases were Eighteen Poems (...

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Thomas, Dylan. "Fern Hill." Literature: The British Tradition. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1989. 1120-22. Print.

"Thomas, Dylan." Gale Contextual Encyclopedia of World Literature. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale, 2009. N. pag. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.