Status Updates From R. S. Thomas Selected Poems

Thomas was of the view that, in poetry, form and subject are inextricable, that the mode of expression is as important as the message. I can see where he's coming from; endless, unvaried iambic metre sends me to sleep, but handled by an exceptional talent, with an ear for language and rhythm that goes beyond mere conformity to rules, one gets the best works of Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley...

The Mountains
Extremely evocative - caused a heavy dose of hiraeth.

Science is bad for my soul, apparently. Lucky I don't have one, then.

Words and the Poet; an appropriate subject for Thomas, despite his self-deprecatory remarks.

Christmas - mild nostalgia compared to, say, fellow Welshman, Dylan Thomas. Extreme nostalgia compared to, say, T.S. Eliot.

Impassioned plee to preserve Welsh culture in similar fashion to Scotland and Ireland.

Bewails the insipid nature of most contemporary poetry.