Editing Dylan Thomas (section)

===London, 1933–1939===
Thomas was a teenager when many of the poems for which he became famous were published: "[[And death shall have no dominion]]", "Before I Knocked" and "The Force That Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower". "And death shall have no dominion" appeared in the ''[[New English Weekly]]'' in May 1933.<ref Name="Ferris-2004"/> In May 1934, Thomas made his first visit to Laugharne, "the strangest town in Wales", as he described it in an extended letter to [[Pamela Hansford Johnson]], in which he also writes about the town's estuarine bleakness, and the dismal lives of the women cockle pickers working the shore around him.<ref>Letter to Hansford Johnson, May 21, 1934 in {{harvp|Ferris|1985}}.</ref>

From 1933 onwards, poet [[Victor Neuburg (poet)|Victor Neuburg]] edited a section called "The Poet's Corner" in a British newspaper, the ''[[Sunday Referee]]''.<ref name="Hopper">{{Cite book| editor-last = Hopper| editor-first = Justin| chapter="After the Vine Press"| title = Obsolete Spells: Poems & Prose from Victor Neuburg & the Vine Press| year = 2022| publisher = MIT Press| isbn = 978-1-913689-26-1}}</ref> Here he encouraged new talent by awarding weekly prizes.<ref name="Shepard">{{cite encyclopedia| editor-last = Shepard| editor-first = Leslie| title=Neuburg, Victor| encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology| year = 1991| publisher = Gale Research| page = 1171}}</ref> One prize went to the then-unknown Thomas,<ref name="Shepard"/> and the publisher of the ''Sunday Referee'' sponsored<ref name="Shepard"/> and Neuburg arranged for the publication of Thomas's first book, ''18 Poems'', in December 1934.<ref name="Hopper"/> The anthology was published by [[Reginald Caton|Fortune Press]], in part a vanity publisher that did not pay its writers and expected them to buy a certain number of copies themselves.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.handandstar.co.uk/index.php/2010/11/model-publisher-or-pirate-r-a-caton-and-the-fortune-press/ |title= Model Publisher or Pirate?|publisher=Hand + Star | date= 29 November 2010|access-date=22 July 2012|first1=Chrissy|last1=Williams}}</ref> ''18 Poems'' was noted for its visionary qualities which led to critic [[Desmond Hawkins]] writing that the work was "the sort of bomb that bursts no more than once in three years".<ref Name="Ferris-2004"/><ref Name="Kirsch-2004"/> The volume was critically acclaimed, netting him new admirers from the London poetry world, including [[Edith Sitwell]] and [[Edwin Muir]].{{sfnp|Bold|1976|p=60}} When "Light breaks where no sun shines" appeared in ''[[The Listener (magazine)|The Listener]]'' in 1934, it caught the attention of three senior figures in literary London, [[T. S. Eliot]], [[Geoffrey Grigson]] and [[Stephen Spender]].{{sfnp|Bold|1976|p=60}}{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|pp=91, 102}}

The following year, in September 1935, Thomas met Vernon Watkins, thus beginning a lifelong friendship.{{sfnp|Lycett|2004|p=118}}  Thomas introduced Watkins, working at Lloyds Bank at the time, to his friends, now known as [[The Kardomah Gang]]. In those days, Thomas used to frequent the cinema on Mondays with Tom Warner who, like Watkins, had recently suffered a [[nervous breakdown]]. After these trips, Warner would bring Thomas back for supper with his aunt. On one occasion, when she served him a boiled egg, she had to cut its top off for him, as Thomas did not know how to do this. This was because his mother had done it for him all his life, an example of her coddling him.{{sfnp|Lycett|2004|p=120}} Years later, his wife Caitlin would still have to prepare his eggs for him.<ref>{{cite web|title=Discover Dylan Thomas's Life: Mother|url=http://www.discoverdylanthomas.com/life#|website=Discover Dylan Thomas|access-date=20 August 2016|quote=Florence was fiercely proud of her son's achievements and was desperately keen to protect her son. This did have its disadvantages. A friend of Dylan's, Tom Warner describes Dylan's first trip to his house, "the first time Dylan came, we noticed that he was just sitting in rather a helpless way with his egg untouched, and by general gestures we realised he wanted someone to take the top off for him-he'd never done it himself". Years later, his wife Caitlin would remove the tops off his eggs and would prepare him sugared bread and milk cut neatly into squares when he was ill, just as mam would have done. Despite her overindulgence, she had a strong bond with her children.}}</ref>{{sfnp|Janes|2014}}

In December 1935, Thomas contributed the poem "The Hand That Signed the Paper" to Issue 18 of the bi-monthly ''New Verse''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.modernistmagazines.com/media/pdf/268.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141028142754/http://www.modernistmagazines.com/media/pdf/268.pdf |archive-date=2014-10-28 |url-status=live |title=New Verse |publisher=Frances Franklin Grigson |date=December 1935 |access-date=5 March 2014}}</ref> In 1936, his next collection ''Twenty-five Poems'', published by [[J. M. Dent]], also received much critical praise.{{sfnp|Bold|1976|p=60}} Two years later, in 1938, Thomas won the [[Oscar Blumenthal]] Prize for Poetry; it was also the year in which [[New Directions Publishing|New Directions]] offered to be his publisher in the United States. In all, he wrote half his poems while living at Cwmdonkin Drive before moving to London. During this time Thomas's reputation for heavy drinking developed.<ref Name="Kirsch-2004"/>{{sfnp|Tremlett|1991}}

By the late 1930s, Thomas was embraced as the "poetic herald" for a group of English poets, the [[New Apocalyptics]].<ref name="Jackaman-1989">{{cite book|title=The Course of English Surrealist Poetry Since The 1930s|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DV9_6DAOSscC&q=%22dylan+Thomas%22+%22+d+h+lawrence%22&pg=PA179|first1=Rob|last1=Jackaman|location=Lewiston, NY |publisher=[[Edwin Mellen Press]]|year=1989|page=188|isbn=978-0-88946-932-7|access-date=26 July 2012}}</ref> Thomas refused to align himself with them and declined to sign their manifesto. He later stated that he believed they were "intellectual muckpots leaning on a theory".<ref name="Jackaman-1989"/> Despite this, many of the group, including [[Henry Treece]], modelled their work on Thomas's.<ref name="Jackaman-1989"/>

In the politically charged atmosphere of the 1930s Thomas's sympathies were very much with the radical left, to the point of his holding close links with the [[communist]]s; he was also decidedly pacifist and anti-fascist.<ref name="Jackson-2014">{{cite book |last=Jackson |first=Paul |editor-last=Ellis |editor-first=Hannah |title=Dylan Thomas: A Centenary Celebration |date=2014 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |pages=90–101 |chapter=Dylan Thomas: the Anti-Fascist Propagandist}}</ref> He was a supporter of the left-wing [[No More War Movement]] and boasted about participating in demonstrations against the [[British Union of Fascists]].<ref name="Jackson-2014" /> Bert Trick has provided an extensive account of an [[Oswald Mosley]] rally in the Plaza cinema in Swansea in July 1933 that he and Thomas attended.<ref>Per {{harvp|Thomas|2003|pp=170–172}}, Thomas mentions attending the rally in his letter of 3 July 1934 to Pamela Hansford Johnson.</ref>

====Marriage====
[[File:Dylan Thomas and Caitlin Macnamara at Brown’s Hotel, Laugharne, South Wales in 1938.png|thumb|Dylan and Caitlin at [[Brown’s Hotel]], [[Laugharne]] in 1938. Taken by their [[Blashford#The Dylan Thomas Connection|Blashford]] friend, the photographer and artist Nora Summers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Summers|first1=Gabriel and Leonie |last2=Towns |first2= Jeff |title= Dylan Thomas and the Bohemians: The Photographs of Nora Summers  |date=2014 |pages=66-81|publisher=Parthian |location= Cardigan|isbn=9781909844988 }}</ref>]]
In early 1936, Thomas met [[Caitlin Thomas|Caitlin Macnamara]] (1913–1994), a 22-year-old dancer of Irish and French Quaker descent.<ref>{{cite web |title=Caitlin's descent |url=https://sites.google.com/site/caitlinthomaslearningmore/home}} This was first published on the official Dylan Thomas website, [https://www.discoverdylanthomas.com/majoliers-caitlins-literary-relatives-guest-blog-david-n-thomas ''Discover Dylan Thomas''], 24 April 2017.</ref> She had run away from home, intent on making a career in dance, and aged 18 joined the [[chorus line]] at the [[London Palladium]].{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|p=151}}<ref Name="Thorpe-2006">{{cite news |last=Thorpe |first=Vanessa |title=Race to put the passion of Dylan's Caitlin on big screen |url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1957289,00.html |work=The Observer |location=London |date=26 November 2006 |access-date=17 October 2009}}</ref><ref Name="Cait"/> Introduced by [[Augustus John]], Caitlin's lover, they met in The Wheatsheaf pub on Rathbone Place in London's [[West End of London|West End]].{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|p=151}}<ref Name="Cait">[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/55871 Paul Ferris], "Thomas, Caitlin (1913–1994)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004 (subscription only)</ref><ref name="Jones-1994">{{cite news |last=Jones |first=Glyn |author-link=Glyn Jones (Welsh writer) |title=Obituary: Caitlin Thomas |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-caitlin-thomas-1380886.html |newspaper=The Independent |date=2 August 1994 |access-date=21 July 2012}}</ref> Laying his head in her lap, a drunken Thomas proposed.<ref Name="Thorpe-2006"/><ref>{{cite news |last=Akbar |first=Arifa |title=Dylan Thomas revival proves death has no dominion |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/dylan-thomas-revival-proves-death-has-no-dominion-811781.html |newspaper=The Independent |date=19 April 2008 |access-date=21 July 2012}}</ref> Thomas liked to assert that he and Caitlin were in bed together ten minutes after they first met.{{sfnp|FitzGibbon|1965|p=205}} Although Caitlin initially continued her relationship with John, she and Thomas began a correspondence, and in the second half of 1936 were courting.{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|pp=152–153}} They married at the register office in [[Penzance]], Cornwall, on 11 July 1937.{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|p=161}}

In May 1938, they moved to Wales, renting a cottage in the village of [[Laugharne]], Carmarthenshire.{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|p=164}} They lived there intermittently{{refn|They also lived in Blashford (November 1938 to March 1939 and January 1940 to March 1940), Marshfield, Chippenham (July 1940 to November 1940), and Bishopston (December 1940 to April 1941) – see {{harvp|Ferris|1985}}.|group=nb}} for just under two years until July 1941, and did not return to live in Laugharne until 1949.{{refn|{{harvp|Ferris|1985}} shows that the family lived for eighteen months in Gosport Street and Sea View, Laugharne, between May 1938 and July 1940, and for three months in the Castle in 1941. They did not return to live in Laugharne until May 1949.|group=nb}} Their first child, Llewelyn Edouard, was born on 30 January 1939.{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|p=175}}