R. S. Thomas

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 circled familiar ground, 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. As a result, the poetry itself has frequently been marginalized. This book 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.

ISBN 0708324118   Pages 256 ISBN13 9780708324110 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 295 Publisher University of Wales Press   Published in Wales Imprint University of Wales Press   Height (mm) 216 Format Paperback   Width (mm) 138 Publication date 15 Sep 2011   Spine width (mm) 20 DEWEY 821.914   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC22

'This is a landmark in R.S.Thomas studies. Too often, the work of the great priest-poet of Wales has been interpreted according to competing ideologies, with his poetry appropriated by the politicised and co-opted by the committed. Daniel Westover's impressive study clears away the critical accretions of the R.S.Thomas industry and recalls us to attend to the sheer intense craft of this most resourceful poet. He reminds us that Thomas, though apparently a reclusive traditionalist in his life and thought, was nonetheless constantly progressive and experimental in his literary techniques. As we approach the centenary of Thomas's birth, this book lets us see the poet afresh according to the only standard by which his work will ultimately live - his artistry.' Dr Grahame Davies, Honorary Fellow, Cardiff University Westover defends his new 'stylistic biography' by reminding us of the weight of bias that has been invested in previous appraisals of 'the most recognizable literary figure in Wales'. Westover, frustrated by these assumptive texts, has sought to honour 'the ogre of Wales' with a more holistic approach. He follows the chronology of Thomas's poetic development, panning for influences and contexts as he goes and, crucially, resisting the urge to romanticise. Westover gives us a humbling vision of a man discontented with the limits of his 'voice'; somebody constantly evolving. It's an excellent volume that takes us from these nebulous beginnings to the solidifying of Thomas's political consciousness and his desperation 'to waken Wales to put aside her servility'. Westover gives the man himself the same treatment and the resulting work is edifying, and satisfyingly heartfelt. Jemma King, www.gwales.com Ym marn Daniel Westover, Thomas oedd un o feirdd mwyaf eofn a radicalaidd ei syniadau yn ystod yr ugeinfed ganrif as roedd hefyd yn un o'r beirdd mwyaf blaengar o ran datblygiad ei arddul. Dadl Westover yw i ddatblygiad Thomas fel bard adlewyrchu'n agos iawn ei symudiadau daearyddol o le I le. Oredd syniadau'r bard am Gymru'n newid ac yn datblygu gan ddibynnu ar leoliad ei gartref ar y pryd. Dadleua'r awdur yn gyson drwy'r gwaith fod perthynas agos iawn rhwng ffurf, natur a chynnwys y cerddi a lleoliad y bard ar y pryd. Mae'n amlwg I ddiwydiant astudio R S Thomas fynd o nerth inerth bellach, gyda Daniel Westover ar flaen y gad yn y fenter gyffroes a phwysig hon. Dr J Graham Jones, Y Cymro Westover's thesis is that Thomas was a conscious and painstaking stylist and that 'Without a prosody that demands attention, the poems would not affect the reader as they do' - his book is intended to fill a neglected gap, 'the intricacies of his craft'. I think it succeeds; at least I am persuaded he was a far more conscious prosodist than I and others had given him credit for. - Sam Adams, PN Review

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