Come along, get ready, wear your grand brand-new gown, For there’s going to be a meeting in this good good old town. When you know everybody and they all know you, And you get a rabbit’s foot to keep away them hoodoos. When you hear the preachin’ has begin, Bend down low for to drive away your sin; When you get religion you’ll wanna shout and sing, There’ll be a hot time in old town tonight! My baby, when you hear them bells go dingaling, All turn around and sweetly you must sing. When the birds dance too, and the poets will all join in, There’ll be a hot time in old town tonight! There’ll be girls for everybody in this good good old town, There’s Miss Gonzola Davis and Miss Gondoola Brown, There’s Miss Henrietta Caesar, and she’s all dressed in red; I just hug and kiss her, and to me then she said; “Please, oh please, oh do not let me fall, You are mine and I love you best of all! You be my man, I’ll have no man at all, There’ll be a hot time in old town tonight! “My baby, when you hear them bells go dingaling, All join around and sweetly you must sing. When the birds dance too, and the poets will all join in, There’ll be a hot time in old town tonight!
Netherlands Bach Society The legend surrounding the ‘Goldberg Variations’, performed here by Jean Rondeau for All of Bach, is such a nice one. Count Hermann Karl von Keyserlinck was having trouble sleeping and asked Bach for some pleasant music to pass the time, to be played by Keyserlinck’s harpsichord prodigy Johann Gottlieb Goldberg. Recorded for the project All of Bach on June 6th 2017 at the Concertgebouw, Bruges. If you want to help us complete All of Bach, please subscribe to our channel http://bit.ly/2vhCeFB or consider donating http://bit.ly/2uZuMj5. For the interview with harpsichordist Jean Rondeau on the ‘Goldberg Variations’ go to https://youtu.be/RuV8J3hkjKc For more information on BWV 988 and this production go to http://allofbach.com/en/bwv/bwv-988/ All of Bach is a project of the Netherlands Bach Society / Nederlandse Bachvereniging, offering high-quality film recordings of the works by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by the Netherlands Bach Society and her guest musicians. Visit our free online treasury for more videos and background material http://allofbach.com/en/. For concert dates and further information go to https://www.bachvereniging.nl/nederla…. Jean Rondeau, harpsichordist Harpsichord: Jonte Knif & Arno Pelto, 2004
The true story of a prominent psychiatrist, his young patient, and the past-life therapy that changed both their lives. As a traditional psychotherapist, Dr. Brian Weiss was astonished and skeptical when one of his patients began recalling past-life traumas that seemed to hold the key to her recurring nightmares and anxiety attacks. His skepticism was eroded, however, when she began to channel messages from the space between lives, which contained remarkable revelations about Dr. Weiss’ family and his dead son. Using past-life therapy, he was able to cure the patient and embark on a new, more meaningful phase of his own career.
As the news keeps evolving, we’re here to bring you the most reliable coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
Johnson & Johnson’s shot nears approval, experts look at the full scope of vaccine protection, and international Covax shipments begin. Here’s what you should know:Headlines
Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine nears approval in the US
Today, a panel of experts will review the efficacy and safety of Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Covid-19 vaccine, the last step before the FDA decides whether or not to approve the shot. That decision is expected Saturday. Earlier this week, an FDA review found that the vaccine was 66 percent effective at protecting people from moderate to severe cases of Covid-19, and even more effective at protecting against severe disease. J&J has said that if approved, it will deliver around 20 million doses to the US by the end of March.In addition, two other vaccines, from Novavax and AstraZeneca, expect to apply for emergency use authorization in the US in April. And Pfizer and Moderna both told US lawmakers this week that they’re expecting a major boost in vaccine deliveries over the next five weeks, saying they’ve overcome manufacturing challenges. As of Thursday, 6.5 percent of the US had been fully vaccinated, and almost 14 percent had received the first dose. All of the vaccine news of the last week indicates that those numbers will continue to increase.
Experts look at whether vaccines reduce transmission and protect against variants
This week, two new studies—both of which have yet to be peer reviewed—made headlines for announcing that vaccinations reduce viral spread. Experts not affiliated with the studies say they have flaws and can’t realistically tell us exactly how much vaccines reduce transmission, but the good news is that they show the vaccines are working well. For the moment, public health authorities say, stay masked and vigilant, even once you’re vaccinated.Meanwhile, both Moderna and Pfizer are working to modify their vaccines so that they better protect against variants. On Wednesday, Moderna announced that a new version of its vaccine designed to target the variant first found in South Africa is ready for human testing. And Pfizer has said it’s exploring adding a third booster dose to specifically target the same mutation.
International vaccine distribution increases
This week, the WHO-led Covax initiative, which aims to distribute vaccines equitably around the world, sent its first shipments to Ghana and the Ivory Coast, an important step for global vaccine distribution. Covax received the vast majority of its funds from G7 countries and the EU. Other countries, including China, India, and Russia, have also begun their own so-called vaccine diplomacy efforts, even as they face their own domestic challenges.Within the EU, efforts are also underway to accelerate vaccine rollout. Leaders in the region met this week and emphasized the importance of speeding up vaccine production and delivery. They also discussed the idea of “vaccine certificates,” which could make tourism and travel possible during summer holidays.
March 2021 is a relief after 2 turbulent first months of the year.
No more stelliums, no more retrogrades, no more T-squares.
Just trines, Mercury-Jupiter, and Venus-Neptune conjunctions. WOW!
With the entrance of the Sun and Venus in Aries, March is a much more elemental-balanced month. We desperately needed some fire, and March 2021 brings it to us.
Due to the triple Sun-Venus-Chiron conjunction, the central theme in March is healing and freedom from past hurts and burdens.
Let’s have a look at the most important transits of the month:
March 3rd, 2021 – Mars Enters Gemini
On March 3rd, 2021 Mars leaves Taurus and enters Gemini. Mars in Gemini is a transit to look forward to for two reasons:
Mars and Gemini share similar qualities: extroversion, movement, buzz, curiosity
Mars in Gemini applies trines (instead of squares) to the planets in Aquarius. Finally, there’s someone (Mars) to put that creative Aquarius energy back into good use!
Mars in Gemini is like a butterfly that moves around and gets things going. If you’ve been shy or quiet lately, this will change. Mars in Gemini loves to talk and express its point of view – and so will you!
March 4th, 2021 – Mercury Conjunct Jupiter
On March 4th, 2021 Mercury is conjunct Jupiter at 17° Aquarius. This is a highly auspicious transit we didn’t get the chance to benefit from much in February when Mercury was retrograde.
\Now Mercury is direct, so if you had some delays last month, Jupiter will finally give you its blessings. Mercury conjunct Jupiter will bring a much-needed sense of relief and optimism.
March 11th, 2021 – Sun Conjunct Neptune
On March 11th, 2021, the Sun is conjunct Neptune at 20° Pisces.
Sun is our identity. Neptune has a dissolving quality, so Sun conjunct Neptune is an opportunity to leave behind the old definition of who you are and meet the timeless, infinite Self that you really are.
With Sun conjunct Neptune the best advice is to let chaos do its work. It’s in the chaos – in this creative space of infinite possibilities – that eventually a new order will emerge.
March 13th, 2021 – New Moon In Pisces
On March 13th, 2021 we have a New Moon at 23° Pisces. The New Moon is conjunct Venus and Neptune so this is truly a fairytale New Moon. Sometimes dreams DO become a reality, and when the manifestation power of a New Moon meets Venus and Neptune, anything is possible!
March 13th, 2021 – Venus Conjunct Neptune
On March 13th, 2021 Venus is conjunct Neptune at 20° Pisces. Venus conjunct Neptune is the most romantic transit in astrology, and it’s just a few more years that we are lucky enough to have it in Neptune’s sign, Pisces.
No matter how difficult our lives may be at the moment, Venus conjunct Neptune is a gentle reminder that when we truly connect with our hearts, we can find beauty and magic everywhere.
March 15th, 2021 – Mercury Enters Pisces
On March 15th, Mercury leaves Aquarius and enters Pisces. In Pisces, Mercury is imaginative and fantasy-prone. Who cares about facts? When Mercury is in Pisces, facts are boring.
Perhaps that’s why a record number of artists have been born with Mercury in Pisces. Mercury in Pisces can pick up nuances and subtleties that no other Mercury can. This transit is great for creative projects of any kind.
March 20th, 2021 – Sun Enters Aries
Happy birthday to all Aries out there… and Happy New Year to everyone! On March 20th, 2020 Sun enters Aries which means that we have the official start of a new astrological year.
If 2021 had a birth chart, it would be cast for March 20th. Last year the March equinox chart had Sun conjunct Chiron, and a tense Capricorn stellium.
This astrological year, the Sun is closely conjunct Venus and has a much more optimistic vibe. Yes, there is still healing work to be done, but at least now we have an ally. Life doesn’t have to be that hard!
March 21st, 2021 – Venus Enters Aries
On March 21st, 2021 Venus enters Aries, hand in hand with the Sun, getting ready for a total rebirth of the heart.
There is a beauty and innocence to Venus in the first sign of the zodiac. Her heart is pure, and she instinctively knows what she wants.
March 23rd, 2021 – Mercury Square Mars
On March 23rd, Mercury (at 11° Pisces) is square Mars (at 11° Gemini).
Mercury-Mars squares have a reputation of being confrontational, however Gemini and Pisces are mutable, and rather compromising signs.
If anything, Mercury square Mars is about “let’s sort things out” rather than having arguments for the sake of having arguments.
March 26th, 2021 – Sun Conjunct Venus In Aries
On March 26th, 2021 the Sun is conjunct Venus at 5° Aries, which means we are right in the middle of our current Venus transit, which started in 2020 in Gemini. This is when Venus transforms into an evening star.
While Venus is still in close proximity to the Sun, as she begins to gain speed, she will eventually begin rising after sunset. Our approach to love becomes more mature, and we have a heightened understanding of what makes us and other people happy.
March 26th, 2021 – Mars Conjunct North Node
On March 26th, 2021 Mars is conjunct the North Node at 13° Gemini. Mars is the planet of action and self-assertion, and North Node is the “uncharted territory”. When Mars is conjunct North Node you want to “Go for it” even if it’s scary.
Since the conjunction is in Gemini, you want to keep a fresh perspective and pay attention to signs and details. With any North Node transit, it’s important to remember that you don’t have – yet – all the answers. Self-awareness is key.
March 28th, 2021 – Full Moon In Libra
On March 28th, we have a Full Moon at 8° Libra.
At the Full Moon, the Sun, Venus and Chiron are conjunct in Aries. Aries is the sign of “I am”. The Moon is in Libra, the sign of the “Other”. Sometimes we understand ourselves through others. And other times we can only understand others when we truly understand ourselves.
The process of putting oneself into other people’s shoes is never easy (that’s why relationships can be so complicated!) but that’s exactly what the Full Moon in Libra will help us with.
March 28th, 2021 – Venus Conjunct Chiron
On March 28th, 2021 Venus is conjunct Chiron at 8° Aries. Chiron transits often come with what health professionals call a “healing crisis”.
A healing crisis means that healing is initially preceded by a worsening of the symptoms. However, this temporary sickness is, in fact, a sign that the treatment is succeeding, even if it doesn’t feel that way.
Similarly, if we want to heal, we first have to bring our wounds out of the unconscious and into the conscious. Of course, once the wounds become conscious, they hurt. But that’s a necessary – and unavoidable – part of the healing process.
If we want to release the old wounds and traumas, we first have to acknowledge and accept them. Venus conjunct Chiron is our chance to heal the heart, by bringing to the surface old repressed feelings and emotions.
March 29th, 2021 – Sun Conjunct Chiron
On March 29th, 2021 Sun is conjunct Chiron at 8° Aries. Chiron has a special relationship with the Sun. In the Greek myth, Chiron was adopted by Apollo (the Greek name for the Sun) who taught him everything he knew. Chiron was abandoned by his parents, so it was the Sun who saved him.
The Sun represents the Self, our divine mission. Chiron represents our primal wound, the wound of being born and disconnected from the source. The wound of existence.
It is only by fully embracing ourselves, and our true purpose in life, that we can transcend the wound of existence and become whole.
March 30th, 2021 – Mercury Conjunct Neptune
On March 30th, 2021 Mercury is conjunct Neptune at 21° Pisces.
Many astrologers call Mercury-Neptune transits “confusing”, and for good reasons. Mercury is all about facts, and what we can see with our senses. Neptune is everything we cannot see – our feelings, intuition, and imagination.
But this doesn’t mean that Mercury and Neptune can’t work well together. In fact, when in conjunction, Mercury and Neptune are asked precisely that: to join forces and bring their best qualities to the table.
A good motto for Mercury conjunct Neptune is “Close your eyes and see”. Because sometimes the essential is indeed invisible to the eye.
PS: The AGE OF AQUARIUS Membership is now open for enrollment with a 14-day free trial!
This time – and this time only – we are happy to offer you a 14-day free trial.
If you wanted to join the Age Of Aquarius but were unsure about what you’ll get, you now have the chance to test the membership for 14 days.
This is a special Mercury conjunct Jupiter promotion we won’t be offering again, so make sure you take advantage of it before it expires (on March 1st).
Thomas was born in Swansea, Wales, in 1914. In 1931, when he was 16, Thomas, an undistinguished pupil, left school to become a reporter for the South Wales Daily Post, only to leave under pressure 18 months later. Many of his works appeared in print while he was still a teenager. In 1934, the publication of “Light breaks where no sun shines” caught the attention of the literary world. While living in London, Thomas met Caitlin Macnamara. They married in 1937. In 1938, they settled in Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, and brought up their three children.
Thomas came to be appreciated as a popular poet during his lifetime, though he found earning a living as a writer was difficult. He began augmenting his income with reading tours and radio broadcasts. His radio recordings for the BBC during the late 1940s brought him to the public’s attention, and he was frequently used by the BBC as an accessible voice of the literary scene.
Thomas first travelled to the United States in the 1950s. His readings there brought him a degree of fame, while his erratic behaviour and drinking worsened. His time in the United States cemented his legend, however, and he went on to record to vinyl such works as A Child’s Christmas in Wales. During his fourth trip to New York in 1953, Thomas became gravely ill and fell into a coma. He died on 9 November 1953 and his body was returned to Wales. On 25 November 1953, he was interred at St Martin’s churchyard in Laugharne.
Although Thomas wrote exclusively in the English language, he has been acknowledged as one of the most important Welsh poets of the 20th century. He is noted for his original, rhythmic and ingenious use of words and imagery.[4][5][6][7] His position as one of the great modern poets has been much discussed, and he remains popular with the public.[8][9]
Life and career
Early time
5 Cwmdonkin Drive, Swansea, the birthplace of Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas was born on 27 October 1914 in Swansea, the son of Florence Hannah (née Williams; 1882–1958), a seamstress, and David John Thomas (1876–1952), a teacher. His father had a first-class honours degree in English from University College, Aberystwyth and ambitions to rise above his position teaching English literature at the local grammar school.[10] Thomas had one sibling, Nancy Marles (1906–1953), who was eight years his senior.[11] The children spoke only English, though their parents were bilingual in English and Welsh, and David Thomas gave Welsh lessons at home. Thomas’s father chose the name Dylan, which could be translated as “son of the sea”, after Dylan ail Don, a character in The Mabinogion.[12] His middle name, Marlais, was given in honour of his great-uncle, William Thomas, a Unitarian minister and poet whose bardic name was Gwilym Marles.[11][13] Dylan, pronounced ˈ [ˈdəlan] (Dull-an) in Welsh, caused his mother to worry that he might be teased as the “dull one”.[14] When he broadcast on Welsh BBC, early in his career, he was introduced using this pronunciation. Thomas favoured the Anglicised pronunciation and gave instructions that it should be Dillan /ˈdɪlən/.[11][15]
The red-brick semi-detached house at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive (in the respectable area of the Uplands), in which Thomas was born and lived until he was 23, had been bought by his parents a few months before his birth.[13] His childhood featured regular summer trips to Llansteffan where his maternal relatives were the sixth generation to farm there.[16] His mother’s family, the Williamses, lived in such farms as Waunfwlchan, Llwyngwyn, Maesgwyn and Penycoed.[17] The memory of Fernhill, a dairy farm owned by his maternal aunt, Ann Jones,[18] is evoked in the 1945 lyrical poem “Fern Hill“.[19] Thomas had bronchitis and asthma in childhood and struggled with these throughout his life. Thomas was indulged by his mother and enjoyed being mollycoddled, a trait he carried into adulthood, and he was skilful in gaining attention and sympathy.[20] Thomas’ formal education began at Mrs Hole’s dame school, a private school on Mirador Crescent, a few streets away from his home.[21] He described his experience there in Quite Early One Morning:
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 – the pulling of a girl’s hair during geography, the sly shin kick under the table during English literature.[22]
In October 1925, Thomas enrolled at Swansea Grammar School for boys, in Mount Pleasant, where his father taught English.[23] He was an undistinguished pupil who shied away from school, preferring reading.[24] In his first year one of his poems was published in the school’s magazine, and before he left he became its editor.[25][26] During his final school years he began writing poetry in notebooks; the first poem, dated 27 April (1930), is entitled “Osiris, come to Isis”.[27] In June 1928 Thomas won the school’s mile race, held at St. Helen’s Ground; he carried a newspaper photograph of his victory with him until his death.[28][29] In 1931, when he was 16, Thomas left school to become a reporter for the South Wales Daily Post, only to leave under pressure 18 months later.[clarification needed][30] 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.[11]
In his free time, he joined the amateur dramatic group at the Little Theatre in Mumbles, visited the cinema in Uplands, took walks along Swansea Bay, and frequented Swansea’s pubs, especially the Antelope and the Mermaid Hotels in Mumbles.[31][32] In the Kardomah Café, close to the newspaper office in Castle Street, he met his creative contemporaries, including his friend the poet Vernon Watkins. The group of writers, musicians and artists became known as “The Kardomah Gang“.[33] In 1933, Thomas visited London for probably the first time.[nb 1]
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.[11] When “Light breaks where no sun shines” appeared in The Listener in 1934, it caught the attention of three senior figures in literary London, T. S. Eliot, Geoffrey Grigson and Stephen Spender.[13][35][36] They contacted Thomas and his first poetry volume, 18 Poems, was published in December 1934. 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”.[11][37] The volume was critically acclaimed and won a contest run by the Sunday Referee, netting him new admirers from the London poetry world, including Edith Sitwell and Edwin Muir.[13] The anthology was published by Fortune Press, in part a vanity publisher that did not pay its writers and expected them to buy a certain number of copies themselves. A similar arrangement was used by other new authors including Philip Larkin.[38] In September 1935, Thomas met Vernon Watkins, thus beginning a lifelong friendship.[39] 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.[40] Years later, his wife Caitlin would still have to prepare his eggs for him.[41][42] In December 1935 Thomas contributed the poem “The Hand That Signed the Paper” to Issue 18 of the bi-monthly New Verse.[43] In 1936, his next collection Twenty-five Poems, published by J. M. Dent, also received much critical praise.[13] In all, he wrote half his poems while living at Cwmdonkin Drive before moving to London. It was the time that Thomas’s reputation for heavy drinking developed.[37][44]
In early 1936, Thomas met Caitlin Macnamara (1913–94), a 22-year-old blonde-haired, blue-eyed dancer of Irish and French descent. She had run away from home, intent on making a career in dance, and aged 18 joined the chorus line at the London Palladium.[45][46][47] Introduced by Augustus John, Caitlin’s lover, they met in The Wheatsheaf pub on Rathbone Place in London’s West End.[45][47][48] Laying his head in her lap, a drunken Thomas proposed.[46][49] Thomas liked to comment that he and Caitlin were in bed together ten minutes after they first met.[50] Although Caitlin initially continued her relationship with John, she and Thomas began a correspondence, and in the second half of 1936 were courting.[51] They married at the register office in Penzance, Cornwall, on 11 July 1937.[52] In early 1938 they moved to Wales, renting a cottage in the village of Laugharne, Carmarthenshire.[53] Their first child, Llewelyn Edouard, was born on 30 January 1939.[54]
By the late 1930s, Thomas was embraced as the “poetic herald” for a group of English poets, the New Apocalyptics.[55] 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”.[55] Despite this, many of the group, including Henry Treece, modelled their work on Thomas’s.[55]
During the politically charged atmosphere of the 1930s, Thomas’s sympathies were very much with the radical left, to the point of holding close links with the communists, as well as decidedly pacifist and anti-fascist.[56] He was a supporter of the left-wing No More War Movement and boasted about participating in demonstrations against the British Union of Fascists.[56]
Wartime, 1939–1945
In 1939, a collection of 16 poems and seven of the 20 short stories published by Thomas in magazines since 1934, appeared as The Map of Love.[57] Ten stories in his next book, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog (1940), were based less on lavish fantasy than those in The Map of Love and more on real-life romances featuring himself in Wales.[11] Sales of both books were poor, resulting in Thomas living on meagre fees from writing and reviewing. At this time he borrowed heavily from friends and acquaintances.[58] Hounded by creditors, Thomas and his family left Laugharne in July 1940 and moved to the home of critic John Davenport in Marshfield, Gloucestershire.[nb 2] There Thomas collaborated with Davenport on the satire The Death of the King’s Canary, though due to fears of libel the work was not published until 1976.[60][61]
At the outset of the Second World War, Thomas was worried about conscription, and referred to his ailment as “an unreliable lung”. Coughing sometimes confined him to bed, and he had a history of bringing up blood and mucus.[62] After initially seeking employment in a reserved occupation, he managed to be classified Grade III, which meant that he would be among the last to be called up for service.[nb 3] Saddened to see his friends going on active service, he continued drinking and struggled to support his family. He wrote begging letters to random literary figures asking for support, a plan he hoped would provide a long-term regular income.[11] Thomas supplemented his income by writing scripts for the BBC, which not only gave him additional earnings but also provided evidence that he was engaged in essential war work.[64]
In February 1941, Swansea was bombed by the Luftwaffe in a “three nights’ blitz”. Castle Street was one of many streets that suffered badly; rows of shops, including the Kardomah Café, were destroyed. Thomas walked through the bombed-out shell of the town centre with his friend Bert Trick. Upset at the sight, he concluded: “Our Swansea is dead”.[65] Soon after the bombing raids, Thomas wrote a radio play, Return Journey Home, which described the café as being “razed to the snow”.[66] The play was first broadcast on 15 June 1947. The Kardomah Café reopened on Portland Street after the war.[67]
In May 1941, Thomas and Caitlin left their son with his grandmother at Blashford and moved to London.[71] Thomas hoped to find employment in the film industry and wrote to the director of the films division of the Ministry of Information (MOI).[11] After being rebuffed, he found work with Strand Films, providing him with his first regular income since the Daily Post.[72] Strand produced films for the MOI; Thomas scripted at least five films in 1942, This Is Colour (a history of the British dyeing industry) and New Towns For Old (on post-war reconstruction). These Are The Men (1943) was a more ambitious piece in which Thomas’s verse accompanies Leni Riefenstahl‘s footage of an early Nuremberg Rally.[nb 4]Conquest of a Germ (1944) explored the use of early antibiotics in the fight against pneumonia and tuberculosis. Our Country (1945) was a romantic tour of Britain set to Thomas’s poetry.[74][75]
In early 1943, Thomas began a relationship with Pamela Glendower; one of several affairs he had during his marriage.[76] The affairs either ran out of steam or were halted after Caitlin discovered his infidelity.[76] In March 1943 Caitlin gave birth to a daughter, Aeronwy, in London.[76] They lived in a run-down studio in Chelsea, made up of a single large room with a curtain to separate the kitchen.[77]
In 1944, with the threat of German flying bombs on London, Thomas moved to the family cottage at Blaen Cwm near Llangain,[78] where Thomas resumed writing poetry, completing “Holy Spring” and “Vision and Prayer”.[79] In September Thomas and Caitlin moved to New Quay in Cardiganshire (Ceredigion), which inspired Thomas to pen the radio piece Quite Early One Morning, a sketch for his later work, Under Milk Wood.[80] Of the poetry written at this time, of note is “Fern Hill”, believed to have been started while living in New Quay, but completed at Blaen Cwm in mid-1945.[81][nb 5]
Broadcasting years 1945–1949
The Boat House, Laugharne, the Thomas family home from 1949
Although Thomas had previously written for the BBC, it was a minor and intermittent source of income. In 1943 he wrote and recorded a 15-minute talk entitled “Reminiscences of Childhood” for the Welsh BBC. In December 1944 he recorded Quite Early One Morning (produced by Aneirin Talfan Davies, again for the Welsh BBC) but when Davies offered it for national broadcast BBC London turned it down.[80] On 31 August 1945 the BBC Home Service broadcast Quite Early One Morning, and in the three years beginning October 1945, Thomas made over a hundred broadcasts for the corporation.[82] Thomas was employed not only for his poetry readings, but for discussions and critiques.[83][84]
By late September 1945, the Thomases had left Wales and were living with various friends in London.[85] The publication of Deaths and Entrances in 1946 was a turning point for Thomas. Poet and critic Walter J. Turner commented in The Spectator, “This book alone, in my opinion, ranks him as a major poet”.[86]
In the second half of 1945, Thomas began reading for the BBC Radio programme, Book of Verse, broadcast weekly to the Far East.[87] This provided Thomas with a regular income and brought him into contact with Louis MacNeice, a congenial drinking companion whose advice Thomas cherished.[88] On 29 September 1946, the BBC began transmitting the Third Programme, a high-culture network which provided opportunities for Thomas.[89] He appeared in the play Comus for the Third Programme, the day after the network launched, and his rich, sonorous voice led to character parts, including the lead in Aeschylus’ Agamemnon and Satan in an adaptation of Paradise Lost.[88][90] Thomas remained a popular guest on radio talk shows for the BBC, who regarded him as “useful should a younger generation poet be needed”.[91] He had an uneasy relationship with BBC management and a staff job was never an option, with drinking cited as the problem.[92] Despite this, Thomas became a familiar radio voice and within Britain was “in every sense a celebrity”.[93]Dylan Thomas Writing Shed
Thomas visited the home of historian A. J. P. Taylor in Disley. Although Taylor disliked him intensely, he stayed for a month, drinking “on a monumental scale”, up to 15 or 20 pints of beer a day. In late 1946 Thomas turned up at the Taylors’ again, this time homeless and with Caitlin. Margaret Taylor let them take up residence in the garden summerhouse.[94] After a three-month holiday in Italy, Thomas and family moved, in September 1947, into the Manor House in South Leigh, just west of Oxford. He continued with his work for the BBC, completed a number of film scripts and worked further on his ideas for Under Milk Wood. In May 1949 Thomas and his family moved to his final home, the Boat House at Laugharne, purchased for him at a cost of £2,500 in April 1949 by Margaret Taylor.[95] Thomas acquired a garage a hundred yards from the house on a cliff ledge which he turned into his writing shed, and where he wrote several of his most acclaimed poems.[96] Just before moving into there, Thomas rented “Pelican House” opposite his regular drinking den, Brown’s Hotel, for his parents[97][98] who lived there from 1949 until 1953. It was there that his father died and the funeral was held.[99] Caitlin gave birth to their third child, a boy named Colm Garan Hart, on 25 July 1949.[100]
American tours, 1950–1953
American poet John Brinnin invited Thomas to New York, where in 1950 they embarked on a lucrative three-month tour of arts centres and campuses.[101] The tour, which began in front of an audience of a thousand at the Kaufmann Auditorium of the Poetry Centre in New York, took in about 40 venues.[102][103][nb 6] During the tour Thomas was invited to many parties and functions and on several occasions became drunk – going out of his way to shock people – and was a difficult guest.[104] Thomas drank before some of his readings, though it is argued he may have pretended to be more affected by it than he actually was.[105] The writer Elizabeth Hardwick recalled how intoxicating a performer he was and how the tension would build before a performance: “Would he arrive only to break down on the stage? Would some dismaying scene take place at the faculty party? Would he be offensive, violent, obscene?”[15] Caitlin said in her memoir, “Nobody ever needed encouragement less, and he was drowned in it.”[15]
On returning to Britain Thomas began work on two further poems, “In the white giant’s thigh”, which he read on the Third Programme in September 1950, and the incomplete “In country heaven”.[106] 1950 is also believed[by whom?] to be the year that he began work on Under Milk Wood, under the working title ‘The Town That Was Mad’.[107] The task of seeing this work through to production was assigned to the BBC’s Douglas Cleverdon, who had been responsible for casting Thomas in ‘Paradise Lost’.[108] Despite Cleverdon’s urges, the script slipped from Thomas’s priorities and in early 1951 he took a trip to Iran to work on a film for the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. The film was never made, with Thomas returning to Wales in February, though his time there allowed him to provide a few minutes of material for a BBC documentary entitled ‘Persian Oil’.[109] Early that year Thomas wrote two poems, which Thomas’s principal biographer, Paul Ferris describes as “unusually blunt”; the ribald “Lament” and an ode, in the form of a villanelle, to his dying father “Do not go gentle into that good night“.[110]
Despite a range of wealthy patrons, including Margaret Taylor, Princess Marguerite Caetani and Marged Howard-Stepney, Thomas was still in financial difficulty, and he wrote several begging letters to notable literary figures including the likes of T. S. Eliot.[111] Taylor was not keen on Thomas taking another trip to the United States, and thought that if Thomas had a permanent address in London he would be able to gain steady work there.[112] She bought a property, 54 Delancey Street, in Camden Town, and in late 1951 Thomas and Caitlin lived in the basement flat.[113] Thomas would describe the flat as his “London house of horror” and did not return there after his 1952 tour of America.[114]
Thomas undertook a second tour of the United States in 1952, this time with Caitlin – after she had discovered he had been unfaithful on his earlier trip.[115] They drank heavily, and Thomas began to suffer with gout and lung problems. The second tour was the most intensive of the four, taking in 46 engagements.[116] The trip also resulted in Thomas recording his first poetry to vinyl, which Caedmon Records released in America later that year.[117] One of his works recorded during this time, A Child’s Christmas in Wales, became his most popular prose work in America.[81] The original 1952 recording of A Child’s Christmas in Wales was a 2008 selection for the United States National Recording Registry, stating that it is “credited with launching the audiobook industry in the United States”.[118]
In April 1953 Thomas returned alone for a third tour of America.[119] He performed a “work in progress” version of Under Milk Wood, solo, for the first time at Harvard University on 3 May.[120] A week later the work was performed with a full cast at the Poetry Centre in New York. He met the deadline only after being locked in a room by Brinnin’s assistant, Liz Reitell, and was still editing the script on the afternoon of the performance; its last lines were handed to the actors as they put on their makeup.[121][122]
During this penultimate tour Thomas met the composer Igor Stravinsky who had become an admirer after having been introduced to his poetry by W. H. Auden. They had discussions about collaborating on a “musical theatrical work” for which Thomas would provide the libretto on the theme of “the rediscovery of love and language in what might be left after the world after the bomb.” The shock of Thomas’s death later in the year moved Stravinsky to compose his In Memoriam Dylan Thomas for tenor, string quartet, and four trombones. The first performance in Los Angeles in 1954 was introduced with a tribute to Thomas from Aldous Huxley.[123]
Thomas spent the last nine or ten days of his third tour in New York mostly in the company of Reitell, with whom he had an affair.[124] During this time Thomas fractured his arm falling down a flight of stairs when drunk. Reitell’s doctor, Milton Feltenstein, put his arm in plaster and treated him for gout and gastritis.[124]
After returning home, Thomas worked on Under Milk Wood in Wales before sending the original manuscript to Douglas Cleverdon on 15 October 1953. It was copied and returned to Thomas, who lost it in a pub in London and required a duplicate to take to America.[125][126] Thomas flew to the States on 19 October 1953 for what would be his final tour.[125] He died in New York before the BBC could record Under Milk Wood.[127][128]Richard Burton starred in the first broadcast in 1954, and was joined by Elizabeth Taylor in a subsequent film.[129] In 1954 the play won the Prix Italia for literary or dramatic programmes.[nb 7]
Thomas’s last collection Collected Poems, 1934–1952, published when he was 38, won the Foyle poetry prize.[131] Reviewing the volume, critic Philip Toynbee declared that “Thomas is the greatest living poet in the English language”.[122] Thomas’s father died from pneumonia just before Christmas 1952. In the first few months of 1953 his sister died from liver cancer, one of his patrons took an overdose of sleeping pills, three friends died at an early age and Caitlin had an abortion.[132]
And death shall have no dominion. Dead men naked they shall be one With the man in the wind and the west moon; When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone, They shall have stars at elbow and foot; Though they go mad they shall be sane, Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again Though lovers be lost love shall not; And death shall have no dominion.
Thomas arrived in New York on 20 October 1953 to undertake another tour of poetry-reading and talks, organised by John Brinnin.[nb 8] Although he complained of chest trouble and gout while still in Britain, there is no record that he received medical treatment for either condition.[133][nb 9] He was in a melancholy mood about the trip and his health was poor; he relied on an inhaler to aid his breathing and there were reports that he was suffering from blackouts.[134][135] His visit to say goodbye to BBC producer Philip Burton, a few days before he left for New York, was interrupted by a blackout. On his last night in London he had another in the company of his fellow poet Louis MacNeice. The next day he visited a doctor for a smallpox vaccination certificate.[136]
Plans called for a first appearance at a rehearsal of Under Milk Wood at the Poetry Centre. Brinnin, who was director of the Poetry Centre, did not travel to New York but remained in Boston to write.[137] He handed responsibility to his assistant, Liz Reitell, who was keen to see Thomas for the first time since their three-week romance early in the year. She met Thomas at Idlewild Airport and was shocked at his appearance, as he looked “pale, delicate and shaky, not his usual robust self”.[135] Thomas told her he had had a terrible week, had missed her terribly and wanted to go to bed with her. Despite Reitell’s previous misgivings about their relationship, they spent the rest of the day and night together. After being taken by Reitell to check in at the Chelsea Hotel, Thomas took the first rehearsal of Under Milk Wood. They then went to the White Horse Tavern in Greenwich Village, before returning to the Chelsea Hotel.[138]
The next day Reitell invited him to her apartment, but he declined. They went sightseeing, but Thomas felt unwell and retired to his bed for the rest of the afternoon. Reitell gave him half a grain (32.4 milligrams) of phenobarbitone to help him sleep and spent the night at the hotel with him. Two days later, on 23 October, Herb Hannum, a friend from an earlier trip, noticed how sick Thomas looked and suggested an appointment with Feltenstein before the performances of Under Milk Wood that evening. Feltenstein administered injections and Thomas made it through the two performances, but collapsed immediately afterwards.[139] Reitell later said that Feltenstein was “rather a wild doctor who thought injections would cure anything”.[140]The White Horse Tavern in New York City, where Thomas was drinking shortly before his death
A turning point came on 2 November. Air pollution in New York had risen significantly and exacerbated chest illnesses such as Thomas had. By the end of the month over 200 New Yorkers had died from the smog.[135] On 3 November, Thomas spent most of the day in bed drinking.[143] He went out in the evening to keep two drink appointments. After returning to the hotel he went out again for a drink at 2 am. After drinking at the White Horse, a pub he had found through Scottish poet Ruthven Todd, Thomas returned to the Hotel Chelsea, declaring, “I’ve had 18 straight whiskies. I think that’s the record!”[143] The barman and the owner of the pub who served him later commented that Thomas could not have imbibed more than half that amount.[144] Thomas had an appointment at a clam house in New Jersey with Todd on 4 November.[145] When phoned at the Chelsea that morning, he said he was feeling ill and postponed the engagement. Later he went drinking with Reitell at the White Horse and, feeling sick again, returned to the hotel.[146] Feltenstein came to see him three times that day, administering the cortisone secretant ACTH by injection and, on his third visit, half a grain (32.4 milligrams) of morphine sulphate, which affected his breathing. Reitell became increasingly concerned and telephoned Feltenstein for advice. He suggested she get male assistance, so she called upon the painter Jack Heliker, who arrived before 11 pm.[145] At midnight on 5 November Thomas’s breathing became more difficult and his face turned blue.[145] An ambulance was summoned.[147][nb 10]
Thomas was admitted to the emergency ward at St Vincent’s Hospital at 1:58 am. He was comatose, and his medical notes state that “the impression upon admission was acute alcoholic encephalopathy damage to the brain by alcohol, for which the patient was treated without response”.[148] Caitlin flew to America the following day and was taken to the hospital, by which time a tracheotomy had been performed. Her reported first words were, “Is the bloody man dead yet?”[148] She was allowed to see Thomas only for 40 minutes in the morning[149] but returned in the afternoon and, in a drunken rage, threatened to kill John Brinnin. When she became uncontrollable, she was put in a straitjacket and committed, by Feltenstein, to the River Crest private psychiatric detox clinic on Long Island.[150]
It is also now believed, however, that Thomas had been suffering from bronchitis and pneumonia, as well as emphysema, immediately before his death. In their 2004 book Dylan Remembered 1935–1953, Volume 2, David N. Thomas and Dr Simon Barton disclose that Thomas was found to have pneumonia when he was admitted to hospital in a coma. Doctors took three hours to restore his breathing, using artificial respiration and oxygen. Summarising their findings, they conclude: “The medical notes indicate that, on admission, Dylan’s bronchial disease was found to be very extensive, affecting upper, mid and lower lung fields, both left and right.”[151] Thomas died at noon on 9 November, having never recovered from his coma.[148][152]
Aftermath
Rumours circulated of a brain haemorrhage, followed by competing reports of a mugging or even that Thomas had drunk himself to death.[148] Later, speculation arose about drugs and diabetes. At the post-mortem, the pathologist found three causes of death – pneumonia, brain swelling and a fatty liver. Despite the poet’s heavy drinking, his liver showed no sign of cirrhosis.[152]
The publication of John Brinnin’s 1955 biography Dylan Thomas in America cemented Thomas’s legacy as the “doomed poet”; Brinnin focuses on Thomas’s last few years and paints a picture of him as a drunk and a philanderer.[153] Later biographies have criticised Brinnin’s view, especially his coverage of Thomas’s death. David Thomas in Fatal Neglect: Who Killed Dylan Thomas? claims that Brinnin, along with Reitell and Feltenstein, were culpable.[137] FitzGibbon’s 1965 biography ignores Thomas’s heavy drinking and skims over his death, giving just two pages in his detailed book to Thomas’s demise. Ferris in his 1989 biography includes Thomas’s heavy drinking, but is more critical of those around him in his final days and does not draw the conclusion that he drank himself to death. Many[quantify] sources have criticised Feltenstein’s role and actions, especially his incorrect diagnosis of delirium tremens and the high dose of morphine he administered.[154] Dr C. G. de Gutierrez-Mahoney, the doctor who treated Thomas while at St. Vincents, concluded that Feltenstein’s failure to see that Thomas was gravely ill and have him admitted to hospital sooner “was even more culpable than his use of morphine”.[155]
Caitlin Thomas’s autobiographies, Caitlin Thomas – Leftover Life to Kill (1957) and My Life with Dylan Thomas: Double Drink Story (1997), describe the effects of alcohol on the poet and on their relationship. “Ours was not only a love story, it was a drink story, because without alcohol it would never had got on its rocking feet”, she wrote,[156] and “The bar was our altar.”[157] Biographer Andrew Lycett ascribed the decline in Thomas’s health to an alcoholic co-dependent relationship with his wife, who deeply resented his extramarital affairs.[158] In contrast, Dylan biographers Andrew Sinclair and George Tremlett express the view that Thomas was not an alcoholic.[159] Tremlett argues that many of Thomas’s health issues stemmed from undiagnosed diabetes.[160]
Thomas died intestate, with assets to the value of £100.[161] His body was brought back to Wales for burial in the village churchyard at Laugharne.[162] Thomas’s funeral, which Brinnin did not attend, took place at St Martin’s Church in Laugharne on 24 November. Six friends from the village carried Thomas’s coffin.[163] Caitlin, without her customary hat, walked behind the coffin, with his childhood friend Daniel Jones at her arm and her mother by her side.[164][165] The procession to the church was filmed and the wake took place at Brown’s Hotel.[164][166] Thomas’s fellow poet and long-time friend Vernon Watkins wrote The Times obituary.[167]
Thomas’s widow, Caitlin, died in 1994 and was buried alongside him.[48] Thomas’s father “DJ” died on 16 December 1952 and his mother Florence in August 1958. Thomas’s elder son, Llewelyn, died in 2000, his daughter, Aeronwy in 2009 and his youngest son Colm in 2012.[162][168][169]
More at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_Thomas
Photograph Source: Derivative work: J JMesserly – Public Domain
Pogo’s wisdom applies to our country divided by the politics of fear: “We have met the enemy and he is us.” This is important because fear is the source of most anger and hate, which is fed by ignorance and stereotypes often promoted by popular culture and disinformation. Our current situation, highlighted by digital misinformation and by the absurd QAnon conspiracy of a government run by satanic worshipping pedophiles, is enabled by a profitable entertainment media industry fueled by fearful messages and images, as well as new communication formats that manipulate audiences.
My argument is that fear has been transformed by an entertainment oriented popular culture, including news organizations, as well as public agencies and officials who have a stake in fear. They provide the content for the ever-expanding market for entertainment. And it is fear that makes for good entertainment such as Donald Trump’s reality TV persona (“The Apprentice”) as well as his Presidential campaign and four years in office powered by the politics of fear that appealed to many of his followers.
Our research on propaganda campaigns suggests that QAnon’s appeals to fight evil and to “save the children” replicates the 1980s moral panic about “missing children” and “stranger danger” that was based on the false claim that as many as 1.5 million children were abducted, molested, and even killed by predators. Most kids labeled as missing had run away from abusive homes or had been removed by separated parents or grandparents. Still, the myth persists, despite clear evidence that guns at home and auto accidents dwarf the risks of strangers for children.
It was not just the plethora of fearful content and images, but also the media logic that emphasized short, visual, dramatic and often conflictual reports. “Talking heads” providing context and clarification fared poorly in competitive ratings and market share. TV journalism stressed action visuals, especially those involving police, car chases; war coverage involved snippets of combat, or what field producers referred to as “bang-bang.” Audiences liked this entertainment format and came to expect it from not only news reports, but other communication contexts as well, including sports reporting, religious services, educational institutions, and political messages as well. This does not mean that the “media are to blame,” but rather that the quest for high TV ratings and competitive popular culture and movie industries contributed to a barrage of public concerns about safety, security, and an unpredictable future.
And the staple for this video format was fear: Fear sold, got high ratings, and later in the digital age, was promoted as ‘click bait.’ Fearful reports, say, about crime and drugs and threats to one’s family and children struck a responsive chord in viewers; no thinking was necessary to pay attention, just an emotional response. TV news producers realized that fear grabbed viewers’ and politicians’ attention; visually sensationalized reports with little context, about crime, drugs, gangs, and violence drove ratings and empowered politicians to intervene for public safety, starting several drug wars and decades of massive incarceration (e.g., Three Strikes, mandatory sentencing). Heeding public outcries about mediated-fear, politicians from Nixon to Reagan to Clinton celebrated and campaigned on the crime threat with draconian legislation that devastated Black Americans in our nation’s central cities.
Much of this menu of fear to protect families and children stressed fear of “the other,” minority groups, foreigners, as well as immigrants. Domestic terrorism should have been on America’s radar, but it wasn’t, even after Timothy McVeigh bombed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people, including 19 children, and injuring hundreds. It was the 9/11 airliner terrorist attacks by Al Qaeda operatives that launched the contemporary emphasis on Muslims, Middle Eastern people, and non-European foreigners. The Bush administration’s responses included two wars, funded illegal prisons, kidnapped and tortured suspects, beefed up national surveillance, and promoted a massive propaganda campaign of fear that linked drug sales to terrorism, including a 2002 Super Bowl ad: “If you quit drugs, you join the fight against terror in America.”
The growth of the internet and digital media overlapped with the emergence of powerful right-wing radio and cable stations dedicated to conservative politics and policies, particularly stressing the numerous threats to families and national security from crime and terrorism. Social media–especially Facebook and Twitter–that were instantaneous, personal, and visual, promoted audience involvement and group identity with like-minded participants. These sites became heavily politicized with conspiracy promoters, particularly after the election of Barack Obama, challenging his anti-Americanism and allegations that he was not an American citizen and was partial to Muslims, Black Americans, and that his Affordable Care Act was socialistic.
Donald Trump was a strong supporter of the “birther movement,” that Obama was not born in the United States, and used Fox News as well as social media, especially Twitter, to promote the politics of fear with nativistic and anti-immigrant views. The major TV networks carried his tweets and entertaining campaign messages of the decline of American society, crude attacks of his rivals, the threats from non-Americans. He stressed how conspiratorial cabals were working against America’s future. He reiterated that the established news media were fake and were part of the conspiracy.
The new digital ecology of communication empowered followers to participate in receiving reports to confirm this, retweeting them, and selecting like-minded chats, often orchestrated by foreign agents selling the politics of fear. QAnon simply cultivated the fear and mistrust of government, established institutions, and directed hope for salvation to a mythical leader—Donald Trump– who would save the children. Pogo was right!
David L. Altheide is Regents’ Professor Emeritus at Arizona State University. His most recent book is Terrorism and the Politics of Fear.
Freedom is learning to like what it’s rational to like: Spinoza’s ‘abominable heresies’
(aeon.co) Today, the philosophical treatise known as the Ethics (1677) by Baruch Spinoza is widely considered a masterwork of philosophy. But at the time of its publication, Spinoza’s radical vision of God as synonymous with nature was enough for the Portuguese-Jewish congregation of Amsterdam to excommunicate him for ‘abominable heresies’. In this short video from the London Review of Books, the British philosopher and historian Jonathan Rée dissects the radical rationalism of the Ethics, elucidating Spinoza’s once-unconventional views on God, freedom and the necessity of approaching the world with an ‘intellectual love’ above all else.
