taken from: thomas' poem 'reflections', which was published in 'no truce with the furies' (bloodaxe books, 1995)about the quoted person:welsh poet. RONALD STUART thomas was born in Cardiff but his father served in the Merchant Navy and the family moved from place to place before settling at Holyhead. in 1918. Educated at the University College of North Wales, Bangor, where he read Classics, he received his theological training at St. Michael's College, Llandaf, Cardiff.

He became rector of Manafon, Mont., in 1942, and it was at this time that he began seriously to learn the Welsh language. he became a great advocate of the Welsh language which he learnt at the age of 30. At Manafon he wrote nearly all the poems which were published in his first three volumes, 'The Stones of the Field' (1946), 'An Acre of Land' (1952) and 'The Minister' (1955), and later collected in Song at 'the Year's Turning' (1955).

R.

S. Thomas was alienated from much of Welsh country life by his status as a priest in the Church in Wales, and Because of his sometimes-brutal portrayal of his fellow countrymen, he found it hard to earn the Welsh people's respect during his lifetime. his poetry is marked by several enduring themes; most striking is his fascination with the harsh, bleak landscape of rural Wales and how this has shaped the character of her people. His work also displays huge compassion for the old and weak, his grief at his wife's death, his own struggle over God's existence and his despair at the Welsh people's complicity in allowing their language and culture to decline over the last century.thomas' bibliography is immense. his overall achievement as a poet is unquestionably major and he is hailed by the wider world as one of the purest and most consistent poets of the last century.
Beginning, in his earlier volumes, with a stark portrayal of the labourer's life that de-mythologized the pastoral, he moved on, in his later work, to a rigorous exploration of the spiritual enigmas of the late twentieth century. As he moved in his poetry from an examination of a familiar, elemental reality of hills and skies to more abstruse speculations concerning space, time and divinity, so his syntax and style changed from one that was recognisably direct and clear to one that became increasingly fractured and elliptical. he is seen as a profoundly serious poet. He does not write light verse, nor, although he has many poems that are scathing about the demise of Welsh culture as he sees it, does he write satiric verse. There are occasional shafts of sunlight, but for the most part the outlook is at best cloudy, if not overcast and grey. A terse resignation concerning earthly life underlies nearly everything he writes.thomas was also a fervent supporter of Welsh nationalism and even condoned violent action against English-owned properties in Wales.