Dylan Thomas : poems

Dylan Thomas (1914-53) was born in Swansea and won wide acclaim for his often declamatory and rhetorical work of the 1940s, which included "Deaths and Entrances" (1946).

He died from alcoholism shortly before the airing of his most famous work, "Under Milk Wood" (1954).

Derek Mahon was born in Belfast in 1941, studied at Trinity College Dublin, and the Sorbonne, and has held journalistic and academic appointments in London and New York.

A member of Aosdana, he has received numerous awards including the Irish Academy of Letters Award and the Scott Montcrieff translation prize.

His "Collected Poems" was published in 1999. In the "Poet to Poet" series, a contemporary poet advocates a poet of the past or present whom they have particularly admired.

By their selection of verses and their critical reactions, the selectors offer intriguing insights into their own work.

Here, Derek Mahon selects Dylan Thomas.