Under Milk Wood
Dylan Thomas
Under Milk Wood
FictionHumor & SatirePoetryPlays & Drama
4.02from 11,409 ratingson Goodreads
A play for voices. Over one spring day, from night to night again, the narrators move through the small Welsh seaside town of Llareggub, listening to the dreams, gossip, songs and secret loves of its people. Written for radio and published after Thomas's death (1954).
Contains spoilers for the entire book
- Themes
- Atmosphere
About the book
Under Milk Wood is Dylan Thomas’s “play for voices”, first broadcast by the BBC in January 1954, two months after his death. Over the course of one spring day, from night to night again, it moves through the small Welsh seaside town of Llareggub, entering the dreams, gossip, desires and daily routines of its inhabitants. Two narrators guide the listener among characters such as blind Captain Cat, who dreams of his drowned shipmates, the twice-widowed Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard, who keeps her dead husbands in order, and the cheerful Polly Garter. Written for the ear, the play is celebrated for its rich, musical language and its comic, affectionate portrait of a community.
Characters
Captain Cat — Retired sea captain
A blind old sailor whose dreams and memories mingle with the life of the seaside town.
Polly Garter — Resident
A mother whose work and songs carry memories of past lovers.
Reverend Eli Jenkins — Minister and poet
A minister who celebrates the town and its inhabitants in poetry and prayer.
Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard — Boardinghouse keeper
A fastidious widow who continues to command her two dead husbands in her dreams.
Mr. Pugh — Schoolmaster
A meek husband whose private fantasies contrast with his outward submission.
Mrs. Pugh — Schoolmaster's wife
A fault-finding wife whose domestic authority weighs heavily on her husband.
Gossamer Beynon — Schoolteacher
A young woman whose carefully maintained composure conceals romantic longing.
Nogood Boyo — Fisherman
An idle, pleasure-seeking young man moving through the town's daily life.
About the author
Dylan Thomas (1914–1953) was a Welsh poet and writer, born in Swansea, where his father taught English at the grammar school. He left school at sixteen to work as a reporter, and his first collection, 18 Poems, appeared in 1934, when he was twenty. He moved between London and Wales, married Caitlin Macnamara in 1937, and during the Second World War wrote scripts for documentary films and became a familiar voice on BBC radio. His books include the stories of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog (1940) and the collection Deaths and Entrances (1946), with “Fern Hill”, and his villanelle “Do not go gentle into that good night” is among the best-known poems in English. From 1950 his reading tours of the United States made him famous for his performances, but his health was failing, worsened by heavy drinking. He died in New York in November 1953, at thirty-nine, shortly after completing Under Milk Wood.