R.S. Thomas in 1995

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:
www.bloodaxeboo...
www.bloodaxeboo...

[@julianmeek2156]

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....

[@cervgiovanni]

Oh my. This is a gold mine

[@srfgrn]

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

[@46metube]

love to see a full documentary about him.

[@piafist]

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

[@hannahjones8992]

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🙏🏻🙏🏻💖

[@BloodaxeBooks]

RS's parents were both English speakers and he grew up in an English-speaking town in Wales, much of that time with his mother, with his father being at sea for many months at a time. From 1925 to 1931 he went to a high school which was English-speaking only. So he never had the opportunity to grow up as a Welsh speaker. His English accent was also typical of the interwar years (like the English of black and white films of those times) so it sounds even more terribly English to our ears now. He learnt the Welsh language at the age of 30, too late in life, he said, to be able to write poetry in it, although he did write and publish memoirs in Welsh.

[@cliftp]

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.

[@Seamus616]

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

[@kelman727]

bio
He was also a total misery that advocated terrorism.

[@perthyn1]

@@kelman727 You have a very lazy mind...

[@MrAlamnisha]

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]

A lovely glimpse into a great, great poet

[@AnnabelleJARankin]

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

[@8nansky528]

I ADORE READING

[@carolineharry]

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.

[@spd47]

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

[@YenNguyen-ss5fx]

Character In the video It's great, I like it a lot $$

[@JasonWeaverly]

It's called 'The Other'.

[@noodleperson17]

You went to meet him, not 'meet with' him. Thank you.

[@felixgelukonstantinescu4751]

On People & off People,

[@ripvanjonesy]

Da Iawn a ddiolch!

[@felixgelukonstantinescu4751]

VECTORI DRAMATICI, DIALECTICI (Poezii 2022+) F,

[@kelman727]

Odd that the rabid Welsh nationalist who backed firebombers also spoke with a cut-glass English accent and learned Welsh only late in life, isn’t it?

[@300leothelion]

You didn’t mention he married an English lady ?

[@broccoliultra2810]

Not at all, I'm from the South and most of us can't speak it as it was removed from our education and beaten out of Welsh children in an attempt at cultural erasure. Fortunately Welsh is now being taught country wide again. He began to learn in his 30's when living in the North, hardly what I would call 'late in life'. Do you visit this video often? There's a comment from you above from four years ago.

[@MrResearcher122]

@@broccoliultra2810 What University did Mr. Thomas attend? I'm trying to work out his rhyming scheme, for I it's stressed, but that could mean anything. Whatever it is, it's spare, sparkling and soothing speech.

[@namename7232]

If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be doing this essay 😡😫🤦‍♀️