Editing Dylan Thomas (section)

===Aftermath===
Rumours circulated of a [[brain haemorrhage]], followed by competing reports of a mugging or even that Thomas had drunk himself to death.<ref Name="BBC"/> Later, speculation arose about drugs and [[diabetes]]. At the [[post-mortem]], the pathologist found three causes of death&nbsp;– [[pneumonia]], [[brain swelling]] and a [[Fatty liver disease|fatty liver]]. His liver showed no sign of [[cirrhosis]].<ref Name="Ezard-2004">{{cite news|url= https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/nov/27/books.booksnews |title= History has Dylan Thomas dying from drink. But now, a new theory |newspaper= Guardian |date= 27 November 2004|access-date= 15 July 2012|first1= John|last1= Ezard | quote = Dylan Thomas, the great lost Welsh poet of his century, was killed not by his heavy drinking but by the mistakes and oversights of his physician, according to new evidence in a biography to be published on Monday.<br>The book discloses that Thomas was found to be suffering from pneumonia by doctors who examined him when he was admitted in a coma to the New York hospital where he died in November 1953 shortly after his 39th birthday.}}</ref>

The publication of John Brinnin's 1955 biography ''Dylan Thomas in America'' cemented Thomas's reputation as a "roistering, drunken and doomed poet";<ref name="WAEoW">{{cite book |editor1-first=John |editor1-last=Davies|editor1-link=John Davies (historian)|editor2-first=Nigel |editor2-last=Jenkins | editor2-link=Nigel Jenkins| editor3-first=Baines |editor3-last=Menna|editor4-first=Peredur I. |editor4-last=Lynch|title=The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales |year=2008 |publisher=University of Wales Press |location=Cardiff |pages=861–862|isbn=978-0-7083-1953-6}}</ref> Brinnin focuses on Thomas's last few years and paints a picture of him as a drunk and a philanderer.<ref name="Poetry Foundation">{{cite web|url= http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/dylan-thomas |title= Dylan Thomas: 1914–1953|work= Poetry Foundation|access-date= 21 July 2012}}</ref> Later biographies have criticised Brinnin's view, especially his coverage of Thomas's death. David Thomas in ''Fatal Neglect: Who Killed Dylan Thomas?'' writes that Brinnin, along with Reitell and Feltenstein, were culpable.<ref name="Fatal Neglect"/> FitzGibbon's 1965 biography ignores Thomas's heavy drinking and skims over his death, giving just two pages in his detailed book to Thomas's demise. Ferris in his 1989 biography includes Thomas's heavy drinking, but is more critical of those around him in his final days and does not draw the conclusion that he drank himself to death. Many{{quantify|date=January 2019}} sources have criticised Feltenstein's role and actions, especially his incorrect diagnosis of [[delirium tremens]] and the high dose of morphine he administered.<ref>{{cite episode |title= Dylan Thomas: From Grave to Cradle |series= Arena |air-date= 16 May 2009 |url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0078mv0|network= BBC |season= 13 |credits= Williams, Nigel (presenter)}} originally BBC2 2003, most recent re-broadcast on BBC4 10 October 2021.</ref> Dr C. G. de Gutierrez-Mahoney, the doctor who treated Thomas while at St. Vincents, concluded that Feltenstein's failure to see that Thomas was gravely ill and have him admitted to hospital sooner "was even more culpable than his use of morphine".{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|p=337}}

Caitlin Thomas's autobiographies, ''Leftover Life to Kill'' (1957){{sfnp|Thomas|1957}} and ''My Life with Dylan Thomas: Double Drink Story'' (1997),{{sfnp|Thomas|1997}} describe the effects of alcohol on him and their relationship. "Ours was not only a love story, it was a drink story, because without alcohol it would never had got on its rocking feet", she wrote,{{sfnp|Thomas|1997|p=1}} and "The bar was our altar."{{sfnp|Thomas|1997|p=9}} Biographer [[Andrew Lycett]] ascribed the decline in Thomas's health to an alcoholic co-dependent relationship with his wife, who deeply resented his extramarital affairs.{{sfnp|Lycett|2004}} In contrast, Dylan biographers [[Andrew Sinclair]] and [[George Tremlett]] express the view that Thomas was not an alcoholic.{{sfnp|Sinclair|2003|p=78}} Tremlett argues that many of Thomas's health issues stemmed from undiagnosed [[diabetes]].<ref>{{cite book |first1= George |last1= Tremlett |chapter= The Kind of Man He Was |title= Dylan Thomas: A Centenary Celebration |editor-first= Hannah|editor-last= Ellis|location= London |publisher= Bloomsbury |year= 2014 |page= 191}}</ref>

Thomas died [[Intestacy|intestate]], with assets worth £100.{{sfnp|Lycett|2004|p=376}} His body was brought back to Wales for burial in the village churchyard at Laugharne.<ref Name="Dylan Thomas Centre">{{cite web|url= http://www.dylanthomas.com/dylan/1950s-dylans-death/|title= Dylan's Life – 1950s to Dylan's death |publisher= Dylan Thomas Centre|access-date= 22 July 2014}}</ref> Thomas's funeral, which Brinnin did not attend, took place at St Martin's Church in Laugharne on 24 November. Six friends from the village carried Thomas's coffin.{{sfnp|Read|1964|p=173}} Caitlin, without her customary hat, walked behind the coffin, with his childhood friend [[Daniel Jones (composer)|Daniel Jones]] at her arm and her mother by her side.<ref name="britishpathe.com">{{cite web|url= http://www.britishpathe.com/video/funeral-of-dylan-thomas|title= Funeral of Dylan Thomas|publisher= britishpathe.com|access-date= 9 August 2012}}</ref>{{sfnp|Read|1964|p=29}} The procession to the church was filmed and the wake took place at Brown's Hotel.<ref name="britishpathe.com"/>{{sfnp|Thomas|Tremlett|1986|pp=118–119}} Thomas's fellow poet and long-time friend Vernon Watkins wrote ''[[The Times]]'' obituary.<ref>{{cite news|url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/4341560.stm |title= Poet's hell-raising image 'myth' |work= BBC News |date= 14 October 2005|access-date= 10 August 2012}}</ref>

Thomas's widow, Caitlin, died in 1994 and was buried alongside him.<ref name="Jones-1994"/> Thomas's father, "DJ", died on 16 December 1952 and his mother Florence in August 1958. Thomas's elder son, Llewelyn, died in 2000, his daughter, Aeronwy in 2009, and his younger son, Colm, in 2012.<ref Name="Dylan Thomas Centre"/><ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2009/aug/09/aeronwy-thomas-ellis-obituary |title= Aeronwy Thomas Ellis: Poet who promoted the legacy of her father Dylan Thomas |work= guardian.co.uk |first1= Andrew| last1= Lycett |date= 9 August 2009|access-date= 10 August 2012}}
</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-20753324 |title= Colm Thomas, Dylan Thomas's last surviving child, dies |work= BBC News |date= 17 December 2012 |access-date= 17 December 2012}}</ref>