Editing Dylan Thomas (section)

====Education====
[[Image:Swansea Grammar.jpg|thumb|right|The main surviving structure of the former [[Swansea Grammar School]] on [[Mount Pleasant, Swansea|Mount Pleasant]], mostly destroyed during the [[Swansea Blitz]] of 1941, was renamed the Dylan Thomas Building in 1988 to honour its former pupil. It was then part of the former [[Swansea Metropolitan University]] campus]]
[[File:Dylan Thomas school plaque.jpg|thumb|upright|Memorial plaque on the former [[Mount Pleasant, Swansea|Mount Pleasant]] site of Swansea Grammar School]]
Thomas's formal education began at Mrs Hole's [[dame school]], a private school on Mirador Crescent, a few streets away from his home.<ref>{{harvp|Ferris|1989|p=35}}. See also Hardy, J. A. (1995), "At Dame School with Dylan", ''New Welsh Review'', Spring no. 28.</ref> He described his experience there in ''Reminiscences of Childhood'':

<blockquote>Never was there such a dame school as ours, so firm and kind and smelling of galoshes, with the sweet and fumbled music of the piano lessons drifting down from upstairs to the lonely schoolroom, where only the sometimes tearful wicked sat over undone sums, or to repent a little crime&nbsp;– the pulling of a girl's hair during geography, the sly shin kick under the table during English literature.<ref>Broadcast on 21 March 1945 and reproduced in {{harvp|Maud|1991|p=7}}.</ref>
</blockquote>

Alongside dame school, Thomas also took private lessons from Gwen James, an elocution teacher who had studied at drama school in London, winning several major prizes. She also taught "Dramatic Art" and "Voice Production", and would often help cast members of the Swansea Little Theatre (see below) with the parts they were playing.<ref>Gwen James (1888–1960) on whom see Note 19 in Thomas, D. N. (2003), p. 286, and also p115 on the help she gave Little Theatre cast members.</ref> Thomas's parents' storytelling and dramatic talents, as well as their theatre-going interests, could also have contributed to the young Thomas's interest in performance.{{sfnp|Thomas|2003|pp=116, 260–261}}

In October 1925, Thomas enrolled at [[Bishop Gore School#Dylan Thomas and Bishop Gore|Swansea Grammar School]] for boys, in [[Mount Pleasant, Swansea|Mount Pleasant]], where his father taught English. There are several accounts by his teachers and fellow pupils of Thomas's time at grammar school.{{sfnp|Thomas|2003|pp=53–94}} He was an undistinguished pupil who shied away from school, preferring reading and drama activities.{{sfnp|FitzGibbon|1965|pp=45–47}} In his first year one of his poems was published in the school's magazine, and before he left he became its editor.{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|pp=41, 61}} Thomas's various contributions to the school magazine can be found here:<ref>{{harvp|Maud|1970}}. Thomas's co-editor, Percy Smart, has also provided an account of Thomas's work as editor in {{harvp|Thomas|2003|pp=77–79}}.</ref>

During his final school years he began writing poetry in notebooks; the first poem, dated 27 April (1930), is entitled "Osiris, come to Isis".{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|pp=55–56}} In June 1928, Thomas won the school's mile race, held at [[St. Helen's Rugby and Cricket Ground|St. Helen's Ground]]; he carried a newspaper photograph of his victory with him until his death.<ref>{{cite web | title= Dylan's Swansea| url= http://www.dylanthomas.com/dylan/dylan-thomas-in-swansea/| author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->| website= Dylanthomas.com |publisher= City and County of Swansea| access-date= 4 March 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Turner |first1=Robin |url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/teenage-dylan-thomas-was-very-4722275 |title=A teenage Dylan Thomas 'was very athletic and loved running' |publisher=Wales Online |date=26 June 2013 |access-date=4 March 2016}}</ref>

In 1931, when he was 16, Thomas left school to become a reporter for the ''[[South Wales Daily Post]]'', where he remained for some 18 months.<ref>See {{harvp|Ferris|1989|p=74}}, as well as interviews with Thomas's fellow reporters and other staff in {{harvp|Thomas |2003|pp=118–133}}.</ref> After leaving the newspaper, Thomas continued to work as a freelance journalist for several years, during which time he remained at Cwmdonkin Drive and continued to add to his notebooks, amassing 200 poems in four books between 1930 and 1934. Of the 90 poems he published, half were written during these years.<ref Name="Ferris-2004"/> In 2014 a fifth notebook, compiled between 1934 and August 1935, was discovered. There were sixteen poems with dates of revisions of their previous versions leading to major alterations in the hitherto accepted chronology of their composition dates.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Goodby |first1=John |title=Discovering Dylan Thomas: a companion to the "Collected poems" and Notebook poems |date=2017 |pages= 2–5, 250|publisher=University of Wales press |location=Cardiff |isbn=9781783169634}}</ref>