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I climbed the stairs; each had a different voice ... There was a stream below the window; I thought it lapped against the house all night until I slept.
Dylan Thomas, 'The Peaches,' from Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog, New Directions, 1955, p. 14.
TIME: early 20th C.
PLACE: Wales
CIRCUMSTANCE: the boy sleeps at his uncle's house
I sat on the hay and stared at Gwilym preaching, and heard his voice rise and crack and fall to a whisper and break into singing and Welsh and ring triumphantly and be wild and meek ... The chapel in the barn was still, and shafted with sunlight. There was nobody to cry Hallelujah or God-bless; I was too small and enamoured in the silence. The one duck quacked outside.
Dylan Thomas, 'The Peaches,' from Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog, New Directions, 1955, p. 17-18.
TIME: early 20th c.
PLACE: Wales
CIRCUMSTANCE: the boy listens to his would-be-preacher cousin Gwilym
It was the first time I had stayed in Grandpa's house. The floorboards had squeaked like mice when I climbed into bed, and the mice between the walls had creaked like wood as though another visitor was walking on them...
'Is there anything the matter, grandpa?' I asked...
He stared at me mildly. Then he blew down his pipe, scattering the sparks and making a high, wet dog-whistle of the stem, and shouted: 'Ask no questions.'
Dylan Thomas, 'A Visit To Grandpa's,' from Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog, New Directions, 1955, p. 29-30.
TIME: early 20th c.
PLACE: Wales
CIRCUMSTANCE: the grandfather is caught pretending he is driving horses in bed
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