Home | Help | Site Map | | Friday 28 September 2007 | ||
Dylan Thomas Home Page > Chronology > The 1930s |
|
The 1930s 1930 - 1939
1930 April 27: Dylan starts the first of the 'Notebooks' into which he copied his early poems. The Notebooks continued until 1934, and the poems in them formed the basis of 18 Poems (1934), Twenty Five Poems (1936) and contributed material to both The Map of Love (1939) and Deaths and Entrances (1946). These early works are collected in The Notebook Poems (edited by Ralph Maud. London: Dent 1989) which is available from the Dylan Thomas Centre. 1931 Caitlin and Vivien John (daughter of the artist Augustus John) go to London and Caitlin begins a two-year dancing course August 31: Dylan leaves Swansea Grammar School to become a junior reporter on the South Wales Daily Post 1932 Dylan joins Swansea Little Theatre Company. They were based in Mumbles at the time, and his sister Nancy Thomas was already a member. He acted in a number of plays, including Noel Coward's Hay Fever. December: Dylan leaves South Wales Daily Post and works full time on his poetry. He wrote around two thirds of his entire poetic output in his late teens. It was during this time that he developed his friendship with Bert Trick, and with the group of talented young 1933 Caitlin visits Dublin and then Paris with Vera Gribben where she stayed for the next year May 18: 'And Death Shall have No Dominion' published in New English Weekly - Dylan's first poem to be published outside Wales "Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again; August: Dylan first goes to London, staying with his sister Nancy and her husband, Haydn Taylor, and visiting editors of literary magazines September: 'That Sanity Be Kept' published in the 'Poet's Corner' of the Sunday Referee; this is seen by another aspiring young poet, Pamela Hansford Johnson , who writes to Dylan; their correspondence begins 1934 February 23: Dylan's second visit to London; he stays with Pamela Hansford Johnson and her mother in Battersea. Their relationship continued until 1935 April 22: Dylan wins book prize of the 'Poet's Corner' which included the Sunday Referee's sponsorship of his first collection of poems. Pamela Hansford Johnson had won this prize previously November: Dylan takes his first lodgings in London at 5 Redcliffe Street, Earls Court, with his Swansea friends, artists Alfred Janes and Mervyn Levy. He returns frequently to his parents at Cwmdonkin Drive until they move to Bishopston, Gower, in 1937 December 4: Dylan's first appearance in book form: his poem 'Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines' is published in The Year's Poetry "Light breaks where no sun shines; December 18: Dylan's first collection, 18 Poems, published jointly by the Sunday Referee and Parton Bookshop "But seasons must be challenged or they totter 1935 May: Dylan stays for a month with Alan (the historian AJP Taylor) and Margaret Taylor at Higher Disley in the Peak District 1936 February 21: Second impression of 18 Poems published
April: Dylan and Caitlin meet at the Wheatsheaf pub, London, and then are said to have spent the next few days together at the Eiffel Tower Hotel, charging the bill to her lover Augustus John. April/May: Dylan stays in Cornwall with Wyn Henderson, first in her cottage at Porthcurno, and then at her new home in Mousehole June: Dylan attends the International Surrealist Exhibition at the New Burlington Galleries, London, and carries around a cup of boiled string, asking "weak or strong?" Salvador Dali was among the other delegates July 15: Dylan and Caitlin meet again at Richard Hughes' home in Laugharne; Dylan had persuaded Alfred Janes to drive him to Laugharne, knowing that Caitlin was there with Augustus John. When Fred's car broke down, Dylan and Caitlin ended up sharing the back seat of Augustus John's car, with John glaring at them as they cuddled. Dylan and Augustus John eventually fought in Laugharne. John won this fight, but after this episode Dylan and Caitlin's relationship grew more serious. September 10: Publication of Twenty-five Poems by J M Dent & Sons Ltd, the fifteenth volume in their New Poetry series "My images stalk the trees and the slant sap's tunnel. 1937 April 21: Dylan's first radio broadcast, 'Life and the Modern Poet' (BBC Welsh Service), recorded in the BBC's London studios, as Dylan had left it too late to return to Swansea as planned June/August: Dylan and Caitlin staying in Cornwall, initially at Lamorna Cove, near Mousehole July 11: Dylan and Caitlin marry at Penzance Register Office, against the wishes of his parents. Wyn Henderson lent them the £3 needed for the licence, and they stayed at her guest-house, The Lobster Pot in Mousehole, afterwards. September: Dylan and Caitlin stay with his parents at Bishopston, and this is Caitlin's first meeting with his family October/April: They stay with Caitlin's mother at Blashford near Ringwood in Hampshire 1938 April: Dylan and Caitlin stay at Bishopston; then with the novelist Richard Hughes (of A High Wind in Jamaica fame) and his wife Frances at Castle House, Laugharne May: Move to a small fisherman's cottage, Eros, in Gosport Street, Laugharne August: Move to Sea View, Laugharne. Caitlin tells Vernon Watkins that their time at Sea View was the "happiest period of our lives together". October 18: Dylan takes part in 'The Modern Muse' BBC Home Service radio broadcast with Louis MacNeice, W H Auden, Kathleen Raine and Stephen Spender November/April: Dylan and Caitlin stay at Blashford awaiting the birth of their first baby: 1939 January 30: Llewelyn Edouard Thomas born "This side of the truth August 24: Publication of The Map of Love, a collection of poetry and prose, by J M Dent & Sons Ltd "When, praise is blessed, her pride in mast and fountain December 20: The World I Breathe - a collection of poems and short stories - published in the United States "I stand, for this memorial's sake, alone December/February: Stay at Blashford with Caitlin's family Print Format |
Disclaimer | Privacy Statement | Top of Page |