A Child’s Christmas in Wales

Forget the poetry and the dissolute behaviour, mention Dylan Thomas to anyone who is the slightest bit interested in literature, in literary biography or literary history and the chances are they will respond with ‘Under Milk Wood’ or ‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales’.

The quality of Dylan’s play for voices is well known but, increasingly, ‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales’ is being seen as a wonderful piece of writing. Because of its ability to conjure a time and a place when, as someone once said ‘All the world was young’, it is seen by many readers as the modern day equivalent of Dickens’s ‘A Christmas Carol’.

Since its first appearance back in the 1940s, ‘A Child’s Christmas’ has grown in popularity and has become something of a symbol for the way Christmas and the Christmas season used to be celebrated – and maybe will be again – not just in Wales but across the whole world.

Dylan Thomas had been writing radio scripts for some years when, in 1945, Lorraine Davies, producer of Children’s Hour in Wales, suggested he might like to come up with something on Christmas memories. Dylan duly wrote his essay; it was recorded in advance because producer Derek McCullough - Uncle Mac as children knew him - did not trust the unreliable Welsh poet, and it went out on the radio in time for the Christmas festivities. It was also published in ‘The Listener’.

Some time later Dylan revised and enlarged the piece, using parts of another essay he’d written for ‘Picture Post’ to fill out space and ‘pad’ it a little. In 1950 he sold it to the American magazine ‘Harper’s Bazaar’ for $300. During Dylan’s 1952 reading tour of America he recorded it for Caedmon Records, mainly because the poems he was going to recite did not fill the required space. He was paid $500 with royalties to be paid once sales had passed 1,000. Since then ‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales’ has gone on to sell in the thousands.

The piece has been published in book form and has been adapted for the stage, for animation and for television. Being relatively short it lends itself to good quality illustrations by people like Fritz Eichenberg and Edward Ardizzone – all part of building the icon that ‘A Child’s Christmas’ has now become.

There is no single and clearly defined narrative structure to the story; Dylan relies on short cameos and character sketches to build an evocative picture of life in Swansea during the 1920s. He uses powerful descriptions and images so that when he writes about ‘fish-freezing waves’ or ‘the crackling sea’, the reader (or listener) is immediately transported back in time.

This is a romantic and sentimental picture of the Christmases we all had – or would like to have had – in the past and one that leaves us with a warm glow of contentment. Yet, even as we read the story, part of us knows that Christmas was never like this - not Dylan’s nor ours. The ability to suspend disbelief is the mark of a quality piece of writing and we believe Dylan’s version of Swansea Christmases partly because of the power of his prose and partly because we actually want to believe him.

So although Dylan writes “It was always snowing at Christmas” the reality is that it wasn’t, not in Swansea during the 1920s at least. Maybe it did snow in Dylan’s memory or imagination but not in Swansea. However, so powerful is the image and so effective is the picture the writer draws that we believe them implicitly and bring them happily into our own lives. Most of us will swear that we can remember white Christmases with snow up to the letter box and all traffic suspended. “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” is, quite simply, a picture of that world and of the childhood we all wanted.

When Caedmon first released the story on record back in 1952 it sold modestly – now it is probably second only to “Under Milk Wood' in terms of popularity and market sales. It is read and listened to all over the world but in Wales, in particular, the story has a special relevance. For the Welsh, “A Child’s Christmas” has become almost part of a ritual.

The story is read each Christmas, much as Charles Dickens’s ‘A Christmas Carol’ or Clement Moore’s ‘The Night Before Christmas’ are read in the weeks and days leading up to 25 December. Just as most families have their traditions – decorating the house, listening to the Queen’s Speech, chestnuts roasting by the fire – reading ‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales’ has become part of the ritual in many homes.

Most Welsh writers have tried their hand at their own version of ‘A Child’s Christmas’, notably Richard Burton with his ‘A Christmas Story’. Dylan’s is a difficult act to follow, however, and no-one has really ever succeeded in emulating what is actually a unique and memorable achievement. We all want a Christmas like Dylan had – or didn’t have, except in his imagination – and we are willing to put aside our doubts and cynicism in the face of his images and the power of his words.

‘A Child’s Christmas in Wales’ has become an integral part of the Christmas experience, just like Clement Moore’s poem or Dickens’s ghost story. Beyond its Welsh context, it speaks to all mankind. This, then, is the ultimate tribute to a remarkable writer.