Exposé: Dylan Thomas - his place in modernist poetry and the influence of his Swansea birthplace

'Exposé' is a documentary series produced by Taz Rahman for Just Another Poet: this episode explores Wales's best-known poet Dylan Thomas with a specific emphasis on the impact of his birthplace upon his works. Some of the questions broached are, where does Dylan Thomas fit in within the modernist pantheon of poetry that started with T S Eliot, and in relation to Dylan's contemporary, W H Auden. Dylan's admiration of Auden's poetry is noted as well as the documented stories of sarcasm such as the instance when he wished Auden 'happy 70th birthday' on his 30th. Dylan's reputation in America in literary and cultural terms is also discussed as David Lloyd and Elizabeth Suggs' are both from the Welsh American diaspora, and former US president Jimmy Carter had personally campaigned to restore the Dylan Thomas birthplace. There is also a tour of the important rooms within the birthplace.
Featuring David Lloyd and Alun Gibbard, and with contributions from Geoff Haden, Elizabeth Suggs, and Lottie Williams. Produced by Taz Rahman. (Please scroll down for individual social media/website links)
Dylan Thomas' birthplace welcomes visitors and there are numerous exciting events planned for 2022 and 2023: www.dylanthomasbirthplace.com/
David Lloyd's academic journal article on Dylan Thomas' reputation in America, "Something Terribly Un-British", can be downloaded from: drive.google.com/file/d/1ar05...
David Lloyd is a Welsh-American poet and academic who was a visiting scholar at Cardiff University as part of his Fullbright Fellowship during the planning and filming of this documentary. Details of his poetry collections and other publications are on his website: www.davidlloydwriter.com/
Alun Gibbard is a bilingual (Welsh & English) novelist, biographer and presently affiliated to the Dylan Thomas Birthplace. For 26 years he was a broadcast journalist reporting for BBC Wales, ITV and S4C where he interviewed many well-known figures, including Nobel laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Polish solidarity movement leader and former president Lech Wałęsa. ( / alungibbard1 )
American writer Elizabeth Suggs is part Welsh and has recently completed her creative writing masters at Swansea University as well as an internship with the publisher Seren Books. ( / elizabethasuggs )
Geoff Haden is an engineer by profession and a lifelong devotee of Dylan Thomas. He is the owner, restorer and present custodian of Dylan Thomas' birthplace (www.dylanthomasbirthplace.com/).
Lottie Williams is an emerging nature writer and poet studying for a masters in creative writing at Swansea University. ( / im_lottie_wills )
Taz Rahman is a Cardiff based poet and literary documentary maker. ( / amonochromdream )
Just Another Poet is grateful to the Books Council Wales/Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru for supporting this CZcams channel through its 'New Audience Fund 2022' (llyfrau.cymru/en/)
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Further Attributions:
Many thanks to Geoff Haden for allowing Just Another Poet to use a segment of an interview with former US president Jimmy Carter.
The starting sequence photo of Dylan Thomas is from the poet's Wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_T...#
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The second Dylan Thomas documentary exploring his Welsh identity is also available for viewing: • Exposé: The Welshness ...

[@lottiewilliams6988]

A fantastic exposé... I enjoyed and learnt so much. Well done, all

[@justanotherpoet2542]

Thank you Lottie, means a lot :)

[@themaelstromnotebook5418]

The movie she's referring to at 46.00 is 'The Edge of Love' (Keira Knightley, Matthew Rhys as Thomas) which focusses on the early work and the war years (for me, not a satisfactory picture of the poet, but that's normal for any film about a poet!... but, I guess, as a way into the work it's better than not looking into Thomas at all).

[@justanotherpoet2542]

Thank you! You might also be interested in the 2nd Dylan documentary from 'Just Another Poet', this time looking at Dylan's Welsh identity. This features a long discussion with former archdruid Jim Parc Nest: czcams.com/video/1r-OuxwMtq0/video.html

[@juliewatkins6902]

This is fab well done keep Dylan’s memory alive

[@justanotherpoet2542]

Thank you Julie! Please feel free to mention the channel to your friends who are also in Dylan and poetry in general.

[@thepoetrybeasts]

Excellent!

[@peace8822]

Wauw, thank you. I think I'll visit you sometime. Greetings from Holland

[@davidlee6720]

brilliant poet but hit or miss sometimes probably due to drink .He left everything in afraid to edit what he might have left out when sober. Still one of the best of the century. Bless him, he had human failings.

[@justanotherpoet2542]

Thanks David for your comment. Such brilliance is so often accompanied by other challenges. I guess we'd never know what kind of a poet Dylan could be if he could keep away from the bottle.