Like Shakespeare and Joyce before him, Dylan Thomas expanded our sense of what the English language can do. He was the creator of one of the most distinctive and exciting of literary styles - sensuous, playful, rhythmically forceful yet subtly musical, and full of memorable lines. 'Do not go gentle into that good night', 'Fern Hill' and other poems have become anthology favourites; his 'play for voices' Under Milk Wood a modern classic. In life, Thomas's exuberant style and meteor-like passing turned him into a cultural icon; the favourite author of The Beatles and Richard Burton, he gave Bob Dylan his name and continues to inspire artists from Peter Blake to Patti Smith. This new edition of his poems, edited and annotated by Dylan Thomas expert John Goodby, commemorates the centenary of Thomas's birth. With recently discovered material and accessible critique, it looks at his body of work in a fresh light and takes us to the beating heart of Thomas's poetry.