Writing Wales in English: R. S. Thomas - A Stylistic Biography — A Stylistic Biography

Disgrifiad Cymraeg / Welsh Description

Cyfrol fywgraffyddol sy'n olrhain datblygiad barddonol a chreadigol y bardd R. S. Thomas (1913-2000) dros gyfnod o chwe degawd, gan ddangos sut y caiff cymhlethdod y bardd ei amlygu yn arddull ei gerddi, sy'n newid yn barhaus.

Disgrifiad Saesneg / English Description

In R. S. Thomas - A Stylistic Biography , Daniel Westover traces Thomas's poetic development over six decades, demonstrating how the complex interior of the poet manifests itself in the continually shifting style of his poems.

Dosbarthu

Byddwn yn dosbarthu eitemau sydd mewn stoc o fewn 3 diwrnod gwaith, fel arfer drwy Royal Mail Tracked 48. Ar gyfer archebion o flaen llaw, byddwn yn dosbarthu’r eitem o fewn 3 diwrnod gwaith ar ôl ei derbyn gan ein cyflenwr.

Dispatch

In-stock items will be dispatched within 3 business days, usually by Royal Mail Tracked 48. For pre-orders, we’ll dispatch within 3 business days of receiving the item from our supplier.

Bywgraffiad yr Awdur / Author Biography

Daniel Westover is an award-winning poet and literary critic specializing in the English language poetry of Wales. He is currently Assistant Professor of Modern British Literature at East Tennessee State University.

Adolygiad y Cyhoeddwr / Publisher Review

R. S. Thomas (1913-2000) is the most recognizable literary figure in twentieth-century Wales. His controversial politics and public personality made him a cultural icon during his life, and the merits of his poetry have continued to be debated in the years after his death. Yet these debates have too-often marginalized the poetry itself and have produced a deficient understanding of his work, by returning to the assumed personality of the poet or to the received narrative of his experience. Even the best studies have focused almost exclusively on ideas and themes. This study argues that Thomas's reputation must be grounded in poetry, not personality. Unlike traditional literary biography, which combines historical facts with the conventions of narrative in an attempt to understand the life of a literary figure, this stylistic biography focuses on the essential relationship between the maker and the made object, giving priority to the latter. R. S. Thomas began his career by writing sugary, derivative lyrics inspired by Palgrave’s Golden Treasury, yet he ended it as a form-seeking experimentalist. This study guides the reader through that journey, tracing Thomas’s stylistic evolution over six decades. In so doing, it asserts a priority: not to look at poetry, as many have, as a way of affirming existing notions about an iconic R. S. Thomas, but to come to terms with the tensions within him as they reveal themselves in the tensions – rhythmic, linguistic, structural – of the poetry itself.