A Prospect Of The Sea
(Dylan Thomas)
After enjoying Thomas's fictional autobiography in short story form (Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog) I considered myself lucky to find a copy of this 'later' prose work. It turned out to be quite different. It was published after Thomas's death, but he selected the pieces in order to preserve them with the earlier work. His editor, Daniel Jones, arranged the book for publication in 1955.
The first 11 stories were all written before the publication of his book of short stories in 1940. I struggled through them, one after the other. They are more poetry than prose, metaphors from beginning to end. The themes are mostly death and insanity with a little young love thrown in.
The second part was far more rewarding: four post-war pieces, totally unconnected. I most enjoyed his article How to be a Poet, first published in 1950. It is a gem, a satire of the literary world, not only London 1950.
In short, for lovers of Thomas's poetry, this book will make an interesting experience in poetry without verse. Real prose readers should stick to the last four works.
I leave you with this brilliant piece of advice in reviewing poetry: "Quote from the poems only when pressed for time; a review should be about the reviewer, not the poet. Be careful not to slate a bad rich poet...for it is not such a long step from reviewing verse to editing a magazine, and the rich bad poet may well put up the money". (How to be a Poet, 1950)
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- Poetry Review
- "rilke?s Letters To A Young Poet" -a Review By A.j.rao
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