Creativity: Dylan Thomas

Creativity: Dylan Thomas

For this assignment I will be discussing my position in relation to the following essay, in which I will be comparing my creative process to that of one, Dylan Thomas. In this essay I will begin by using resources to draw a picture of who Dylan Thomas, as both a person and a writer was then proceed to discuss the way in which Thomas went through his creative process and how the ideas for his work were influenced with the aid of adequate references from different sources, as mentioned in the reference list. Following that I will proceed to give a brief outline of my upbringing as I did with Dylan Thomas then continue to examine my own creative process and compare it to that of Thomas.

Dylan Thomas was a world renowned poet and liked to travel, but Thomas' influences came from his homeland of Wales and the Welsh culture.

Thomas went through the most part of his life as an alcoholic, but as many creative individuals have their unhealthy addictions, such as the romantic era of poets had their opium, Thomas had his alcohol. Despite this flaw in his character, it did not affect his ability to write, but it did hinder his life, with Thomas dying at the age of only 39.

Dylan Thomas spent his childhood growing up in Swansea, living in the Mumbles, where the scenery is as vast as the sea it looks out upon. With such resources as the landscape surrounding him, his descriptive abilities were boosted from an early age.

Thomas saw growing up in such an area as a gift, as the Gower peninsula is a place of such natural beauty, with lush virgin scenery for as far as the eye can see.

popsubculture.com writes "Dylan Thomas' incredible use of metaphor, meter, and a comic wit, allows his work to stand alone, balancing a reckless neo-Romantic sensuality against the more staid Puritanism of his time and culture." this sums up what Thomas' work was all about, but to sum up what Thomas was like as a person, we would have to ask the man himself, and one statement that stands out for me is one he wrote some time during his late twenties "One: I am a Welshman; two: I am a drunkard; three: I am a lover of the human race, especially of women". This is not only humorous but also very true, because not only was he famous for his work, but infamous for his patriotism, drunkenness and a womanizing, all of which he has summed up himself in this statement.

The BBC website; Dylan Thomas: The Biography, adds that, "as befits a poet's sensibilities, he was flighty and often detached from reality". Another feature of Thomas' life was his alcohol addiction of which the BBC biography states that, "His work and relationships were clouded by the strong stuff, and it had an impact on his personality: although he could play the charming, bon viveur card to perfection, he could equally be anarchic, upsetting and awkward.". Throughout his creative process in writing a poem or story it would be inevitable that he was intoxicated at one point or another, the main certainty is that it did not affect his work, with each piece being as invigorating as the next.

Amabile(1979-84) writes, experimental evidence shows social environmental factors such as, Evaluation of work; expected evaluation, Surveillance; being watched while working. Reward; contracted for reward, Competition; competing for prizes, and Restricted choice; restricted

choice in how to do an activity. All have a detrimental effect on creativity.

To try and match these effects in Thomas' creative lifestyle would be impossible, with the exception of his first job as a journalist at the Swansea Evening Post, of which he left without even a years employment, it shows that his environment was in a way flawless.

Despite leaving the Evening Post Thomas continued as a journalist, but as a freelance, which took enormous pressure of him, as he could work at his own pace, which suited his laid back lifestyle, this is when he began to flourish as a creative individual, living in Laugharne, a place of peace and tranquility, producing his most famous piece Under Milk Wood, along with several others.

Influences came from Thomas' surroundings, with the weather conditions of Wales being as predictable as the National lottery is today and the picturesque landscape surrounding giving him the ideas to bounce off to develop a masterpiece. Locked away in his shed at the foot of the garden overlooking the river, Thomas is secluded, writing only to please himself and with a vast amount of choice in which to direct his poems, is not restricted. All these combine to produce in Amabile's research the perfect creative environment to allow creativity to flow.

Having been born and spend most of my childhood up to my late teens in Swansea, I have also travelled a great deal in that short time, not only experiencing the limitless countryside of Wales but travelling the length of Britain, from Glasgow to Penzance, touring Ireland and then Canada with my rugby team and family, and venturing to Germany, Spain, France and Italy with my school