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New Research Alleges Dylan Thomas Plagiarised Schoolboy Poems

The evidence is published in the TLS ahead of an Alma Books edition flagging the disputed juvenilia.

Overview

  • Publisher Alessandro Gallenzi reports 12 poems published under Thomas’s name between December 1926 and July 1931 match earlier works, with about another dozen suspected.
  • Many alleged sources appeared in the Boy’s Own Paper, with overlaps cited with poems by Archibald J. A. Wilson, Helen Elrington and Charles Ingram Stanley.
  • Alma Books plans a new edition later this month that groups 24 items under a section titled “The Plagiarised and Dubious Poems.”
  • Geoff Haden of the Dylan Thomas Birthplace calls the findings very significant and plans a display juxtaposing the school magazine texts with the originals in Swansea.
  • Gallenzi and TLS editor Toby Lichtig say the revelations warrant reassessing Thomas’s early output but do not diminish appreciation of his later, original work.