In My Craft or Sullen Art

Dylan Thomas

17 pages 34-minute read

Dylan Thomas

In My Craft or Sullen Art

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1934

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Character List

Meet the key characters, with insights into their roles, motivations, and relationships—spoiler-free.

Major Characters

A solitary writer who labors over poetry while the rest of the world sleeps. He firmly rejects standard motivations like financial security or public acclaim. Instead, he dedicates his quiet work to capture the authentic emotions of ordinary people. He accepts that his pages may act like transient sea spray and vanish unread.

Key Relationships

Devoted to The Lovers

Inspired by The Raging Moon

Rebellious Successor to The Towering Dead

Couples engaged in romantic intimacy who hold all their shared earthly griefs in their embrace. They exist entirely absorbed in their own private worlds, completely oblivious to the poet writing in the dark. Their pure, uncalculated emotional connection provides the exact standard of truth the poet hopes to honor.

Key Relationships

Unknowing Subjects of The Speaker

Supporting Characters

A personified celestial body that serves as the poet's sole companion. It casts a musical, singing light over the desk, acting as an expressive muse. This nocturnal presence provides the creative energy necessary to sustain the writer through his lonely hours.

Key Relationships

Muse to The Speaker

The deceased, immortalized poets of past generations who established the traditional literary canon. They are associated with classical subjects like nightingales and religious psalms. Their enduring legacy represents the kind of historical fame the current writer actively refuses to pursue.

Key Relationships

Literary Predecessors to The Speaker