Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea on 27 October 1914. On leaving school he worked on the SOUTH WALES EVENING POST before embarking on his literary career in London. Not only a poet, he wrote short stories, film scripts, features and radio plays, the most famous being UNDER MILK WOOD. On 9 November 1953, shortly after his 39th birthday, he collapsed and died in New York City. In 1982 a memorial stone to commemorate him was unveiled in 'Poet's Corner' in Westminster Abbey. John Goodby is Professor of English at the University of Swansea. He has published widely on British and Irish poetry, and his previous work on Dylan Thomas includes the co-edited essay collection Dylan Thomas: New Casebook (2001) and a monograph, The Poetry of Dylan Thomas: Under the Spelling Wall (2013).