Dylan Thomas

Diagnoses

Vocation

Notable

Welsh writer of poetry, short story, movie scenarios and radio scripts, immensely talented. A popular writer, his poetry and verse contains some of the most stirring and passionate words of contemporary literature. He and his wife were known for their drinking and brawling. Toward the end, his drinking went totally out of control. Attractive, even lovable when sober, he became crude and unmanageable when drunk, using offensive language and making lewd advances toward strange women. A poetry reading at City College two days after Thomas's 39th birthday was his final public appearance. He developed delirium tremens and a doctor was summoned to his hotel. The doctor gave the raving man a morphine injection and he went into a coma. He was admitted to the hospital on 11/05 at 1:58 AM. His wife, Caitlin, flew over in time to see him alive but "possessed of 10,000 raving demons." He died on 11/09/1953, about 1:00 PM while being bathed by a nurse, New York, NY. The autopsy cited bronchial-pneumonia, with fluid on the brain as the primary cause and aided by a fatty liver. His death struck many of his readers as a literary tragedy. Link to Wikipedia biography