Stories of Dylan Thomas’s tempestuous life and early death have coloured our enjoyment of his verse. Romantic, affirmative, rhetorical, he appeals unashamedly to our emotions, with startling images and strong, sweeping rhythms.

          Here are some of his finest and best-loved poems – "Fern Hill" and "I see the boys of summer", "After the Funeral", "A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London" and "Do not go gentle into that good night".