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R.S. Thomas in 1995

Bloodaxe Books

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This short portrait of R.S. Thomas (1913-2000) was shown in December 1995 by Bookmark after he had been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature for 1996 (which went to Seamus Heaney). With commentary by Griff Rhys Jones and Denis Healey, it includes Thomas reading two poems, 'Children's Song' and 'The Other'. Filmed mainly on Anglesey, where Thomas lived in his retirement, the film features his former parishes of Aberdaron on Lleyn and Manafon in mid-Wales (with some archive footage from 1963). R.S. Thomas's later poetry was published by Bloodaxe in five books including COLLECTED LATER POEMS 1988-2000. His UNCOLLECTED POEMS is also forthcoming from Bloodaxe. For more information on R.S. Thomas, see:
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/personpa...
http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/titlepag...

20 Comments

@julianmeek2156 9 years ago

Met him once and corresponded with him for a time. He was much nicer and kinder than the press sometimes portrayed him. And the poetry....so wonderful....

@46metube 6 years ago

love to see a full documentary about him.

@piafist 11 years ago

I met RS in Denbigh library 1991and he seemed delighted when I gave him a cover I made for 'not that he brought flowers'

@cervgiovanni 4 years ago

Oh my. This is a gold mine

@paperprincess1050 1 year ago

That everyone would love the things of the earth, how happy and peaceful all would be.

@AnnabelleJARankin 5 years ago

His poem A blackbird Singing is one of my very favourite.

@cliftp 17 years ago

I truly great poet. Despite being without any faith myself one can only admire the honesty of his own internal debates about matters of faith and his appreciation of the raw beauty of life.

@spd47 15 years ago

Apparently his last home was so damp that as RS Thomas sat at his desk writing his son could see mould on his shoulders!,.

@MrAlamnisha 5 years ago

R S Thomas has shaped my entire body of Pastoral poems, all of which was inspired by his Iago Prytherch poems. What a poet indeed! My favourites have to be all Prytherch poems especially Iago Prytherch Lyrics and Evans

@robertlstone 17 years ago

A lovely glimpse into a great, great poet

@srfgrn 13 years ago

Thanks for putting this up; I just discovered Thomas today and can't wait to pick up his poetry.

@hannahjones8992 5 years ago

I've just discovered this video, having loved R S Thomas's poetry for many years, and I am a bit surprised at his terribly English accent, though I did know that he only learned to speak Welsh later in life. I've landed here now because of a dear friend across the globe, who's also a poet, became interested when I had talked about Thomas to him, which led me to searching🙏🏻🙏🏻💖

@Seamus616 16 years ago

he's a gem and the spirit of a people. cherish and celebrate him.

@carolineharry 17 years ago

I have only just discovered this poet, much to my shame, being born & bred in Wales I should have known about this poet.And it's thanks to an Englishman, a Mr D Sylvian that I made this discovery.