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Dylan Marlais Thomas is buried in St. Martin's Church, Laugharne, Dyfed, Wales. (See
map...ref no. 19) Thomas
died on November 9, 1953 while on a lecture tour of America. He had been drinking
heavily the night he died in the White Horse pub in Greenwich Village, New York.
Later that evening he returned to his hotel room in great pain and
summonsed a doctor. Unfortunately the doctor (Dr Feltenstein) administered an abnormally large dose of morphine sulphate
and Thomas slipped into a coma. Thomas's
last words were: "I've had 18 straight whiskies......I think that's the
record." He was 39 years old. His body was brought back to Laugharne. Thomas
and his wife Caitlin lived in The Boathouse in Laugharne in Wales from 1949 onwards after it was
purchased for them by Margaret Taylor (the wife of the historian A.J.P. Taylor). Thomas
used to write in a wood and asbestos shed in the garden. The fictional town of
Llareggub in Under Milk Wood is traditionally associated with Laugharne. (If
you read Llareggub backwards you will also get an insight into Thomas' sense of
humour.)
Thomas had great skill as a wordsmith and frequently used assonance and
consonance in his poetry. However, like A.C.
Swinburne, Thomas has sometimes been criticised for verbal dexterity
at the expense of meaning.
Gravestone of Dylan Thomas
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