Editing Dylan Thomas (section)

====Escaping to Wales====
The Thomas family also made several escapes back to Wales. Between 1941 and 1943, they lived intermittently in Plas Gelli, [[Talsarn]], in Cardiganshire.{{sfnp|Thomas|2000|pp=27–77}} Plas Gelli sits close by the [[River Aeron]], after whom Aeronwy is thought to have been named.<ref>See the interview with Amanda Williams who lived in Plas Gelli while the Thomases were there in {{harvp|Thomas|2000|pp=232–238}}.</ref> Some of Thomas's letters from Gelli can be found in his ''Collected Letters''{{sfnp|Ferris|1985|pp=559–561, 563–565}} whilst an extended account of Thomas's time there can be found in D. N. Thomas's book, ''Dylan Thomas: A Farm, Two Mansions and a Bungalow'' (2000).{{sfnp|Thomas|2000}} The Thomases shared the mansion with his childhood friends from Swansea, Vera and Evelyn Phillips. Vera's friendship with the Thomases in nearby [[New Quay]] is portrayed in the 2008 film ''The Edge of Love''.{{sfnp|Thomas|n.d.}}

In July 1944, with the threat in London of [[V-1 flying bomb|German flying bombs]], Thomas moved to the family cottage at Blaencwm near [[Llangain]], Carmarthenshire,{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|p=200}} where he resumed writing poetry, completing "Holy Spring" and "Vision and Prayer".{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|p=201}}

In September that year, the Thomas family moved to [[New Quay]] in Cardiganshire (Ceredigion), where they rented Majoda, a wood and asbestos bungalow on the cliffs overlooking Cardigan Bay.<ref group="nb">See Thomas's letters from Majoda, September 1, 1944 to July 5, 1945 in {{harvp|Ferris|1985}}.</ref> It was there that Thomas wrote a radio piece about New Quay, ''Quite Early One Morning'', a sketch for his later work, ''Under Milk Wood''.<ref>{{harvp|Ferris|1989|p=213}}. To read ''Quite Early...'' see {{harvp|Maud|1991|p=9}}.</ref> Of the poetry written at this time, of note is ''Fern Hill'', started while living in New Quay, continued at Blaencwm in July and August 1945 and first published in October 1945<ref>Started writing Fern Hill in New Quay: see {{harvp|FitzGibbon|1965|p=266}}; {{harvp|Thomas|Tremlett|1986|p=92}}; {{harvp|Ferris|1989|p=4}}. Further work was done on ''Fern Hill'' in July and August 1945 at Blaencwm, the family cottage in Carmarthenshire, Wales. A draft of the poem was sent to David Tennant on August 28, 1945: see {{harvp|Ferris|1985|p=629}}. ''Fern Hill'' received its first publication in ''Horizon'' magazine in October 1945.</ref><ref group="nb">{{harvp|Brinnin|1955|p=104}} states that on a visit to Laugharne in 1951 he was shown "more than two hundred separate and distinct versions of the poem (''Fern Hill'')" by Thomas.</ref>

Thomas's nine months in New Quay, said first biographer, Constantine FitzGibbon, were "a second flowering, a period of fertility that recalls the earliest days…[with a] great outpouring of poems", as well as a good deal of other material.{{sfnp|FitzGibbon|1965|p=266}} His second biographer, [[Paul Ferris (Welsh writer)|Paul Ferris]], agreed: "On the grounds of output, the bungalow deserves a plaque of its own."{{sfnp|Ferris|1989|p=4}} Thomas's third biographer, [[George Tremlett]], concurred, describing the time in New Quay as "one of the most creative periods of Thomas's life."{{sfnp|Tremlett|1991|p=95}} Walford Davies, who co-edited the 1995 definitive edition of the play, has noted that New Quay "was crucial in supplementing the gallery of characters Thomas had to hand for writing ''Under Milk Wood''."{{sfnp|Davies|Maud|1995|p=xvii}}