RS Thomas

Description

RS Thomas
“One sigh no heavier than a feather”
From his poem ‘A Marriage’

Ronald Stuart (RS) Thomas (29 March 1913 – 25 September 2000) has been described by Professor M Wynn Thomas as “the Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn of Wales—a troubler of the Welsh conscience and one of the major English language and European poets of the 20th Century.”
RS Thomas, the son of a merchant sea captain, became a priest aged 23, serving throughout a number of parishes in North Wales. He was brought up in an English-speaking home, only learning Welsh in his thirties—a major regret—though nevertheless supporting Welsh nationalism whole-heartedly. His early poetry echoed the bleak beauty of the Welsh landscape and the hard lives of its peasant farmers. His poetry later evolved into themes that were more abstract and metaphysical. He excoriated technological conveniences as dangerous distractions from spiritual existence.
In 1940 he married ME (Elsi) Eldridge, a well-travelled, established English artist. Married for over 50 years, Elsi proved a catalyst, inspiring him to write some of his most moving and humane work.
His often uncompromising, authoritative manner belied sensibilities lovingly expressed in the final line of his poem ‘A Marriage’ in which he recalls his beloved wife’s passing, “One sigh no heavier than a feather.”

A museum-grade giclée print from the original 30″ x 24″ oil painting of poet RS Thomas. Size 375mm x 297mm (just short of A3).RS Thomas

Please contact me here for details of how to commission an original portrait.