Discover Dylan Thomas's Notebook 1

27 April – December 1930

Please click on the below + symbols to reveal more information on each subject.

1. He stands at the steaming river's edge (27 April 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
He stands at the steaming river’s edge
With his soft arms in the air,
And snares the sun among his tangled hair,
And springs upon the wave’s thick ledge,
And curls his arms around his hips,
Brushing the hot foam with his lips.
Further information: This poem has a suggestion of the Egyptian myth, the Osiris-Isis story.

2. The lion-fruit goes from my thumb (2 May 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
Based upon themes from Mother Goose
The lion fruit goes from my thumb
And the branches stride from my hand,
Proud and hard. Now I may watch
The wings of the bird snap
Under the air which raises flowers
Over the walls of the brass town,
Near the house of the grass stream,
Looking down on the turrets.
Further information: This poem reminds the reader of a number of nursery rhymes including: Mary Mary, Quite Contrary and Tom, Tom, the Piper’s son, as well as the fairytale, Rupunzel.

3. Grant me a period for recuperation (2 May 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt: Poem written on the Death of a Very Dear Illusion
Grant me a period for recuperation,
I have lost my nearest relation,
Let there be tears,
My love is crucified
And split and bled,
Bruised and ravished by commercial travellers.

4. You shall not despair (6 May 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
You shall not despair
Because I have forsaken you
Or cast your love aside;
There is a greater love than mine
Which can comfort you
And touch you with softer hands.

5. My vitality overwhelms you (10 May 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
My vitality overwhelms you,
My vigour is too heavy,
My love is a strong burden,
That weighs upon your shoulders.

6. And so the new love came at length (17 May 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt: And so the New Love Came
And so the new love came at length
Healing and giving strength,
And made the pure love go.
She echoed my laughter
And placed my love upon her,
Bearing the voluptuous burden,
With pure love coming after.
Further information: Dylan mentions the the name Lilith in this poem, who according to myth, was the wife of Adam before Eve.

7. You collect such strange shapes (18 May 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud. Currently out of print.
Excerpt: On Watching Goldfish
You collect such strange shapes
In the cool palm of your hand,
You with long, sinewy limbs
And muscles breaking through the skin.

8. The lion, lapping the water (May 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
The lion, lapping the water,
Moistening his gums
And restoring his vitality,
Is a balanced creature.
Further information: It appears that Lawrence’s animal poems may have influenced Dylan when writing this one.

9. I am aware of the rods (June 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt: I Am Aware
I am aware of the rods
Of the high sun coming down,
Sharply, unwaveringly,
With bright tips to pierce,
Coming down pointed.

10. My river, even though it lifts (June 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
My river, even though it lifts
Ledges of waves high over your head,
Cannot wear your edge away,
Round it so smoothly,
Or rub your bright stone.

11. The corn blows from side to side lightly (18 June 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
The corn blows from side to side lightly,
Tenuous, yellow forest that it is,
And bears the steady wind on its head,
Brushing my two hands.

12. We will be conscious of our sanctity (6 June 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
We will be conscious of our sanctity
That ripens as we develop
Our rods and substantial centres,
Our branches and holy leaves
On the edge beyond your reach.

13. I have come to catch your voice (19 June 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
I have come to catch your voice,
Your constructed notes going out of the throat
With dry, mechanical gestures,
To catch the shaft.

14. My love is a deep night (June 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
My love is deep night
Caught from the tops of towers,
A pomp of delicious light
Snared under the tip of each stalk,
Dew balanced to perfection
On the grass delicate beyond water.

15. When your furious motion is steadied (1 July 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
When your furious motion is steadied,
And your clamour is stopped,
And when the bright wheel of your turning voice is stilled,
Your step will remain to fall.

16. No thought can trouble my unwholesome pose (17 July 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
No thought can trouble my wholesome pose,
Nor make the stern shell of my spirit move.
You do not hurt, nor can your hand
Touch to remember and be sad.

17. The hill of sea and sky is carried (20 July 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
The hill of sea and sky is carried
High on the sounding wave,
To float, an island in its size,
And stem the waters of the sun
Which fall and fall.

18. So I sink myself in the moment (July 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
So I sink myself in the moment,
I let the fiery stream run.
How I vibrate, and the petunia too,
As, garden to your loving bird,
I’m all but cut by the scent’s arc.

19. No pigeon, I'm too wise (8 August 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas4. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
No, pigeon, I’m too wise;
No sky for me that carries
Its shining clouds for you;
Sky has not loved me much,
And if it did, who should I have
To wing my shoulders and my feet?

20. The cavern shelters me from harm (11 August 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
The cavern shelters me from harm;
I know no fear until the cavern goes;
Without his dark walls I die,
Without his winged roof
I have no place to cover me.

21. Her woven hands beckoned me (28 and 29 April 1929)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt: Woman on Tapestry
Her woven hands beckoned me,
And her eyes pierced their intense love into me,
And I drew closer to her
Until I felt the rhythm of her body
Like a living cloak over me.
Further information: Dylan’s childhood friend Daniel Jones has suggested that when writing this poem, with all its strange landscapes, he may have been thinking about a panel, weaved by Daniel’s mother, called The Garden of Eden that hung in their house.

22. Pillar breaks, and mast is cleft (August 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
Pillar breaks, and mast is cleft
Now that the temple’s trumpeter
Has stopped (angel, you’re proud),
And gallantly (water, you’re strong-
You batter back my fleet),
Boat cannot go.

23. It's light that makes the intervals (August 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
It’s light that makes the intervals
Between the pyramids so large,
And shows them fair against the dark,
Light who compels
The yellow bird to show his colour.

24. Let me escape (September 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
Let me escape,
Be free (wind for my tree and water for my flower),
Live self for self,
And drown the gods in me,
Or crush their viper heads beneath my foot.

25. Oh dear, angelic time - go on (September 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
O dear, angelic time – go on.
I’ll try to imitate your going,
And turn my wheel round, too,
As sure and swift as yours.

26. And the ghost rose up to interrogate (September 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
And the ghost rose up to interrogate:
‘When’d did you make the leopard yours,
Who was an animal that could not follow
The intricacies of another’s path?

27. When I allow myself to fly (October 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
When I allow myself to fly,
There is no sense of being free;
Only the other loosening me
Can send the voluminous delight,
And make the wind that hurries by
Keener to invigorate.

28. Admit the sun into your high nest (October 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
Admit the Sun
Admit the sun into your high nest
Where the eagle is a strong bird
And where the light comes cautiously
To find and then to strike.

29. We sailed across the Arabian sea (October 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt: A Section of a Poem called “Hassan’s Journey Into the World”
We sailed across the Arabian sea,
Restless to interrupt the season
And for our castles and unshaken trees
Take the bright minaret.

30. I know this vicious minute's hour (3 November 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968)
Where you can find it now: The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas, The New Centenary Edition, edited by John Goodby (2014) and Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
I know this vicious minute’s hour;
It is sour motion in the blood,
That, like a tree, has roots in you,
And buds in you.
Further information: This setting of this poem is a dance hall, or nightclub.

31. Her voice is a clear line of light (4 November 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt: Claudetta, You and Me
Her voice is a clear line of light
Coming from the end of her world
Into the uneasy centre of mine,
And her hair is a forest whose trees
I have planted, in thought,
Time upon time.

32. Come, black-tressed Claudette home (5 November 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
Come, black-tressed Claudetta, home
To me, who, when you go,
Fall into melancholy.
You said “The shepherd by the brook,
Singing to soothe his cares,
Befriended me, and told me how
The swallow was the bird he loved.

33. Cool, oh no cool (November 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
Cool, oh no cool,
Sharp, oh no sharp,
The hillock of the thoughts you think
With that half-moulded mind I said was yours,
But cooler when I take it back,
And sharper if I break asunder
The icicle of each deliberate fancy.

34. They brought you mandolins (November 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
They brought you mandolins
On which you might make song,
And, plucking each string lightly,
Send what you dreamt into the sky.

35. The air you breath encroaches (November 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
The air you breathe encroaches
The throat is mine I know the neck
Wind is my enemy your hair shan’t stir
Under his strong impulsive kiss
Further information: This poem is intentionally not punctuated.

36. When all your tunes have caused (November 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
When all your tunes have caused
The pianola’s roll to break,
And, no longer young but careful,
There are no words by which you might express
The thoughts you seem to let go by
You might consider me.

37. Am I to understand (November 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt: Written in a classroom
Am I to understand
You say what I should comprehend,
And make the words I knew
By sight and hearing
Words to the whirling head?

38. Hand in hand Orpheus (November 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
Hand in hand Orpheus
and Artemis go walking
into the void of sense
you stopped the eagle in its flight
you took Endymion to your place
now you go walking into sense

39. I, poor romantic, held her heel (22 November 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968)
Where you can find it now: The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas, The New Centenary Edition, edited by John Goodby (2014) and Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
I, poor romantic, held her heel
Upon the island of my palm,
And saw towards her tiny face
Going her glistening calves that minute.
Further information: The love interest in the poem is changed into an insect.

40. Oh! the children run towards the door (November 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
Oh! the children run towards the door,
Opening a thousand times before they blink,
And there are fifty Xmas trees
Showing the snow on every thirtieth branch
Outside the house, but not too far.

41. Tether the first thought if you will (December 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
Tether the first thought if you will,
And take the second to yourself
Close for companion, and dissect it, too,
It stays for me
With your no toil.

42. How shall the animal (9 December 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968),
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
How shall the animal
Whose way I trace
Into the dark recesses
Be durable
Under such weight as bows me down,
The bitter certainty of waste,
The knowing that I hatch a thought
To see it crushed
Beneath your foot, my bantering Philistine?
Further information: This poem was changed significantly in 1938 to become How shall my animal of The Map of Love (1939) and Dylan’s Collected Poems (1952)

One has found a delicate power (May 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
One has found a delicate power.
Quietly even and sound,
Under the wings of a flower
Raising its head from the ground,
A measure of ease and delight
In the sweet-footed dance of the night.
Further information: This poem was deleted from the notebook, however originally it was notebook 1, poem ‘9’.

The shepherd blew upon his reed (Orpheus) (June 1930)

When and where it was first published: Swansea Grammar School magazine, July 1930.
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
The shepherd blew upon his reed
A strange fragility of notes,
And all the birds and forests freed
The music of their golden throats.
Further information: This poem was deleted from the notebook, however originally it was notebook 1, poem ’12’ and was printed in Swansea Grammar School magazine in July 1930 where its title was ‘Orpheus’.

The Shepherd to his Lass (17 June 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
He said, ‘You seem lovely, Chloe,
Your pretty body and your hair
Are smoother than the rose and snowy,
Soft as a plum and light as air.
Further information: This poem was deleted and was originally, as well as a few others, poem ’12’. Thomas wrote this poem in an visitor’s book at Yr Hendre farm, St Dogmaels, North Pembrokeshire in 1930 which is now at the National Library of Wales.

The rod can lift its twining head (August 1930)

When and where it was first published: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas, edited by Ralph Maud (USA 1967, UK 1968).
Where you can find it now: Poet in the Making: The Notebooks of Dylan Thomas. Currently out of print.
Excerpt:
The rod can lift its twining head
To maim or sting my arm,
But if it stings my body dead
I’ll know I’m out of harm.
Further information: This was a deleted poem which was originally notebook 1, poem ’30’.

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