R. S. Thomas
Ronald Stuart Thomas, known as R. S. Thomas, was a significant Anglo-Welsh poet and Anglican priest, born in Cardiff, Wales, on March 29, 1913. The only son of a sailor, he spent his childhood in port towns and pursued his education at Holyhead Grammar School and the University College of North Wales, where he earned a B.A. in classics. His theological studies led to his ordination as a deacon in 1936 and a priest in 1937, serving in various parishes across Wales. Thomas's poetry often reflects the rural Welsh experience, addressing the struggles of local communities and the starkness of the Welsh landscape, with notable characters such as Iago Prytherch, a farm laborer.
His first poetry collection, *The Stones of the Field*, was published in 1946, but it was the 1955 book *Song at the Year's Turning: Poems, 1942-1954* that garnered him significant attention. His later works explore themes of urbanization and incorporate influences from the visual arts. Throughout his career, Thomas received numerous accolades, including the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry and the Lannan Lifetime Achievement Award for Poetry. His literary contributions solidified his prominence in Anglo-Welsh literature, especially with the release of *Collected Poems, 1945-1990* in 1993. Thomas's legacy continues to resonate in the exploration of spiritual and cultural themes within his poetry.
On this Page
Subject Terms
R. S. Thomas
Poet
- Born: March 29, 1913
- Birthplace: Cardiff, Wales
- Died: September 25, 2000
- Place of death: Pentrefelin, Wales
Biography
An important Anglo-Welsh poet and an Anglican priest, Ronald Stuart Thomas was born in Cardiff, Wales, on March 29, 1913, the only son of Huw Thomas, a sailor, and Margaret Thomas. During his childhood, the family lived in port towns. Thomas attended Holyhead Grammar School in Anglesey and received a B.A. in classics from the University College of North Wales in 1935. He studied theology at St. Michael’s College in Llandaff, after which he was ordained a deacon in 1936, and then a priest the following year.
Thomas served as curate of Chirk, Denbighshire (1936-1940); curate of Tallarn Green, Hanmer, Flintshire (1940-1942); rector of Manafon, Montgomeryshire (1942-1954); vicar of St. Michael’s, Eglwysfach, Cardiganshire (1954-1967); vicar of St. Hywyn, Aberdaron, Gwynedd with St. Mary, Bodferin (1967- 1978); and rector of Rhiw with Llanfaelrhys (1972-1978). In 1940, Thomas married the painter Mildred E. Eldridge, with whom he had a son, Gwydion. Eldridge died in 1991; five years later, Thomas wed Elizabeth Vernon.
Thomas’s first book of poems, The Stones of the Field, appeared in 1946; however, it was not until the 1955 publication of Song at the Year’s Turning: Poems, 1942- 1954, with an introduction by John Betjeman, that Thomas drew sustained attention. Thomas’s exposure to rural Welsh communities undoubtedly influenced his poetry, as is clear in the character of Iago Prytherch, a farm laborer who appears throughout his oeuvre. His work depicts not only the troubles of Welsh countrymen and countrywomen, but also the harshness of the Welsh landscape, in appropriately stark and unflinching language.
Poetry for Supper (1958) addresses the problems of urbanization in Wales. Thomas’s clerical persona is particularly evident in those poems published in Pietà (1966) and afterward. H’m (1972) proposes new versions of the Genesis stories. A later phase in Thomas’s writing career draws inspiration from the visual arts: the “Impressions” section of Between Here and Now (1981) includes poetic commentaries on paintings in the Louvre, alongside their reproductions, and Destinations (1985) features illustrations by Paul Nash.
For his literary accomplishments Thomas received the Royal Society of Literature’s Heinemann Award for Song at the Year’s Turning: Poems, 1942-1954 in 1955, the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 1964, the Welsh Arts Council award in 1968 and 1976, the Cholmondeley Award in 1978, and the Lannan Lifetime Achievement Award for Poetry in 1996, the same year he was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Additionally, the publication of Collected Poems, 1945- 1990 in 1993 affirms Thomas’s position of prominence in Anglo-Welsh letters.