R.S. Thomas was the pre-eminent, Welsh poet writing in English in the second half of the twentieth century, and one of the leading, lyric poets writing in English anywhere during that time. He was active throughout the fifty years that followed the end of the Second World War, publishing twenty four separate volumes of new poetry during the period, beginning with The Stones of the Field (1946) and ending with No Truce with the Furies (1995). In addition he published three collections: Selected Poems, 1946-68 (1973), Later Poems, 1972-82 (1983) and Collected Poems, 1945-90 (1993); one longer poem, The Minister (1953); and an increasingly impressive range of prose, most of it written and published in Welsh, including his autobiography, Neb ['No-one'] (1985). If one counts in poems published in a variety of journals and magazines,...
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Citation: Gordon, Ian. "R. S. Thomas". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 March 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4376, accessed 05 December 2025.]
