This study ranges R. S. Thomas's career, and includes a study of unpublished early notebooks; a comparison of his Manafon poems with a contemporary sociological account of a similar region; reflections on his interest in Native American history; an exploration of his poetic relationship with Geoffrey Hill; and a survey of his enduring image in Welsh poetic culture. One of the book's recurrent themes is Thomas's role as cultural warrior representing a marginalised nation - a crucial aspect often overlooked, not least because readers may lack the relevant historical, cultural and political context to appreciate it. With a consideration of his influence on one major Welsh contemporary religious poet, the volume concludes with a reflection on the revealing light thrown on his poetry by Thomas's lifelong interest in Miguel de Unamuno's The Tragic Sense of Life.

M. Wynn Thomas is Professor of English and Emyr Humphreys Professor of English at Swansea University; he is a Fellow of the British Academy and the author of twenty books on the two literatures of Wales and on American poetry.