During Dylan’s short life he wrote hundreds of poems, and though he also wrote humorous short stories, moving broadcasts and his famous play for voices, it was poetry that was his one main love.  He had two periods of his life that were particularly productive, during his teenage years at home in Swansea, and at the end of the Second World War in New Quay.  Dylan’s physical environment played an important role in both the subject of his poems but also in providing him with a quiet and peaceful place to work.  Dylan’s Collected Poems were an amalgamation of his five poetry collections: 18 Poems, Twenty-five Poems, The Map of Love , Deaths and Entrances  and In Country Sleep.  All of these are still in print, among others, in both The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas, The New Centenary Edition, edited by John Goodby (2014) and The Dylan Thomas Omnibus, both published by Orion.

Cover images courtesy of Jeff Towns / Dylans Bookstore Collection

Click the picture to visit the National Library of Wales online exhibition