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In my Craft or Sullen Art

 

 
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In my Craft or Sullen Art
 
 
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"In my Craft or Sullen Art" is a poem written by Welsh
Wales

native_name = Cymru|conventional_long_name = Wales|common_name = Wales|image_flag = Flag of Wales 2.svg|national_motto = ...
 poet Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas

Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh people poet who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself....
 (1914-1953). It was first published in 1946 in Deaths and Entrances
Deaths and Entrances

Deaths and Entrances is a volume of poetry by Dylan Thomas, first published in 1946. It became the best-known of his poetry collections.Some of the poems contained in the volume have become classics, notably Fern Hill....
. The poem describes the writer's craft and his lot in life, a writer who must write for writing's sake, caring not for any material gains that will come from his work. The poem also reflects the times in which it was written, with several allusions to the Second World War, which had only just concluded.

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Not for the proud man apart
From the raging moon I write
On these spindrift pages
Nor for the towering dead
With their nightingales and psalms
But for the lovers, their arms
Round the griefs of the ages,
Who pay no praise or wages
Nor heed my craft or art.


poem has been set to music on at least two occasions.






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"In my Craft or Sullen Art" is a poem written by Welsh
Wales

native_name = Cymru|conventional_long_name = Wales|common_name = Wales|image_flag = Flag of Wales 2.svg|national_motto = ...
 poet Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas

Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh people poet who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself....
 (1914-1953). It was first published in 1946 in Deaths and Entrances
Deaths and Entrances

Deaths and Entrances is a volume of poetry by Dylan Thomas, first published in 1946. It became the best-known of his poetry collections.Some of the poems contained in the volume have become classics, notably Fern Hill....
. The poem describes the writer's craft and his lot in life, a writer who must write for writing's sake, caring not for any material gains that will come from his work. The poem also reflects the times in which it was written, with several allusions to the Second World War, which had only just concluded.

Poem text


In my craft or sullen art
Exercised in the still night
When only the moon rages
And the lovers lie abed
With all their griefs in their arms,
I labour by singing light
Not for ambition or bread
Or the strut and trade of charms
On the ivory stages
But for the common wages
Of their most secret heart.


Not for the proud man apart
From the raging moon I write
On these spindrift pages
Nor for the towering dead
With their nightingales and psalms
But for the lovers, their arms
Round the griefs of the ages,
Who pay no praise or wages
Nor heed my craft or art.


Use as lyrics

The poem has been set to music on at least two occasions. It was scored for mezzo-soprano and piano in 2001 by Wayne L. Davies as part of a Dylan Thomas song-cycle. It was also provided the basis - and lyrics - for "In my craft or sullen art", a song by New Zealand pop group Mink in 1995. A further musical version - part of an album of songs inspired by Thomas - was released by New Zealand's Chris Matthews and Robot Monkey Orchestra
Chris Matthews (musician)

Chris Matthews is a New Zealand rock musician. He has been a member of numerous bands, notably Children's Hour, This Kind of Punishment and The Headless Chickens for whom he was guitarist and lead vocalist, as well as writer or co-writer of many of their songs....
 in 2008.

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