Under Milk Wood

by Dylan Thomas

  p. 4 never such seas: The Second Voice took over from the First Voice at this point.

  p. 4 fish come biting out: In Botteghe these words were followed by 'like finned and lightning bugs from behind the wet green wallpaper of the undersea'. In the MS revision this became: 'like bugs from behind the wet green wallpaper of the undersea.' But then Thomas crossed it out in his MS.

  p. 4 down to his wishbone and: The comma after 'wishbone' in MS was deleted by Thomas in the Yale TS.

  p. 4-5 him…/enjoyable…/blisters…/clock…/never…: The Jones edition omits the dots of MS and TS.

  p. 5 We shared / Her name: The BBC mistook the capital 'W' of Thomas's MS for lower case. Thomas did not correct it in the TS. The Jones edition chose the lower case 'w', and went further, altering the 'Her' of MS & TS to 'her'.

  p. 5 sealawyer: Unhyphenated in MS and TS.

  p. 5 no my never: We follow MS here. The 'my' was altered to 'I' in the Yale TS, and 'I' appears in all printings. However, it is valuable to preserve a wording that has been attested to as Swansea dialect of the time. (Cf. the dialect 'Never should of married', p. 9.)

  p. 5 Yes, they did: Comma, as in MS and TS.

  p. 5 cocoanuts: This is Thomas's spelling in both MS and TS.

  p. 6 lavabread: We preserve the spelling of MS and TS as corresponding to the Swansea colloquial pronunciation of 'laverbread'.

  p. 7 From where you are, you can hear,: Commas, as in MS and TS.

  p. 7 her lover: Second Voice took over from First Voice at this point.

  p. 7 barnacle-breasted flailing: There is no authority in MS or TS for the comma inserted after 'barnacle-breasted' in the Jones edition.

  p. 7 flannelette / cretonne: Thomas used 'flanellete' in MS, which was reproduced by the BBC typist and left uncorrected in the Yale TS, though another misspelling, 'cretone,' was corrected by the interlining of an 'n'.

  pp. 7-8 body…/roast…/closed…/yes…/nightmares…: The Jones edition omits the dots of MS and TS.

  p. 8 chasing the naughty couples: The Second Voice took over from the First Voice at this point.

  p. 8 bare, bold: Commas, as in MS and TS.

  EVANS THE DEATH: The Jones edition follows MS in giving this passage to SECOND VOICE; but in the Yale TS Thomas crossed out '2ND VOICE' and substituted 'Evans the Death', a change which we adopt.

  p. 8 goosefield: MS had 'goose field', which was mistyped at the BBC as 'grassfield'. In New York Thomas, knowing that 'grassfield' was wrong, altered it to 'greenfield'. Jones preferred to follow MS, and we concur in restoring 'goosefield'.

  p. 8 Welshcakes: Thomas's spelling in MS and TS.

  p. 8 while his mother dances: In MS these words were followed by 'cross as two sticks'; but Thomas deleted the phrase in MS.

  p. 8 fat, pink: Comma, as in MS and TS.

  p. 8 cold bread pudding: Although Botteghe had 'cold', Thomas wrote 'old' in MS, which was typed thus at the BBC; however, the Yale TS shows that Thomas added a 'c' to restore the world 'cold'.

  pp.9-10 mother. / ma. / nose. / w. / poor Mrs Waldo.: The periods in MS and TS, omitted in the Jones edition, are here restored.

  p. 10 Oh, Waldo, Waldo!: Dots supplied in the Jones edition are not found in MS and TS.

  p. 10 Hush, love, hush. I'm widower Waldo now: The Jones edition italicized 'widower' without manuscript authority. The rehearsal note in the margin of the Yale TS indicated that Thomas wanted this line delivered with 'more enjoyment'.

  p. 11 our mum: The Jones edition's 'ma' (1974, not 1954) has no manuscript authority.

  p. 11 moochins: In a worksheet now at Texas, among the 'Welsh spellings wanted', Thomas included the word 'mwchins', the spelling that appeared in Botteghe, and ultimately in the Jones edition. In one of the typescripts at Texas, the word was typed 'myching', which looks like an attempt to make the common Anglo-Welsh dialect word 'mitching' (i.e. playing truant) appear more Welsh. Thomas altered the typed word to 'muchins', possibly attempting to get closer to the sound of the word as he heard it in his youth. When he came to do the fair copy of MS, however, he wrote it as 'moochins', which he did not alter in the Yale TS, and in which he seems to be trying to incorporate also the Welsh word for pig, 'mochyn'. Playing mochins (i.e. playing pigs) is an expression one might well have heard in the bilingual society in which Thomas got to a Welsh dialect idiom for playing dirty while also combining playing truant. Of course, 'moochins' also serves to recall (visually but not aurally) the English idiom 'mooching' (i.e. loitering).

  p. 12 to be your awful: the BBC typist capitalized the 'to' of MS, and the capitalization was followed in the Jones edition. We restore 'to', as indicating a continuation of the Preacher's line above.

  p. 12 Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard, widow: The comma of MS and TS was omitted in the Jones edition.

  p. 12 who, maddened: MS clearly shows a period after 'who' — a mistake on Thomas's part. The BBC typist omitted punctuation, and this was followed in the Jones edition. We take it that the poet intended a comma, as he had it in Botteghe.

  p. 13 Oh, Mrs Ogmore! / Oh, Mrs Pritchard!: In MS, thomas gave directions in parentheses to the actors. Mr Ogmore was to speak 'fearfully'; Mr Pritchard was to be 'grieving'. However, he deleted these parentheses. In the Yale TS, Thomas put notes in the margin during rehearsal: 'No sniffing' is attached to Mr Ogmore's line, and 'quicker' is attached to Mr Pritchard's.

  pp.13-14 I must blow my nose / in the woodshed: The BBC typist added periods and capital letters in this passage, followed in the Jones edition. We restore the clear intention of MS that the lines should run un, punctuated only as here.

  A rehearsal note on the Yale TS indicates that Thomas wanted the husbands to speak with 'more pain'.

  p. 14 in a paper carrier: At this point Douglas Cleverdon, in his BBC broadcast script, brought Gossamer Beynon's 'At last, my love' etc. from below to help the listening audience (The Growth of Milk Wood, pp. 45, 62) and this change was adopted in the Jones edition. We, however, follow MS and TS.

  p. 14 there is perturbation: There is no manuscript authority for the capitalized 'There' of the Jones edition.

  p. 14 P.C. Atilla Rees: The Jones edition altered this name to the more expected 'Attila', but Thomas (normally a very reliable speller) consistently spelled the first name as here, possibly seeking to suggest a Welsh double-'l'.

  salt, and brown: MS has the comma, dropped in the BBC typing.

  p. 15 Thirty four: These numbers are unhyphenated in MS and TS, as also 'eighty five' on p. 23, and 'Mrs Twenty Three' on p. 33.

  p. 15 [Mrs Utah Watkins bleats.]: This direction to the actor is found in MS and TS. The Jones edition changed it to 'Bleating'.

  p. 15 lumps out of bed: Thomas gave this passage to Atilla Rees in an annotation in the Yale TS, which we follow.

  p. 15 dead to the dark, and still foghorning: The Jones edition leaves out the comma found in both MS and TS. Thomas wrote in the margin of MS by this passage the word 'Syntax', which implies that he was questioning its grammatical construction. However, he crossed 'Syntax' out, and retained the comma.

  p. 15 You'll be sorry for this in the morning: Thomas wrote a rehearsal note on the Yale TS: 'Meaner'.

  p. 16 Willy Nilly, postman: In the margin of this narration in the Yale TS Thomas wrote a note during rehearsal: 'Space more'.

  p. 16 Rose-Cottage: This name was unhyphenated in the MS, but in the Yale TS Thomas added the hyphen throughout.

  p. 16 owl meat / springheels The Jones edition has 'owlmeat' but MS and TS have it as two words, whereas MS and TS have 'springheels' as one word, not hyphenated as in the Jones edition.

  p. 17 my foxy darling: The lower case 'my' is in both MS and TS, indicating a run-on.

  p. 17 tidbits and topsyturvies: In MS Second Voice takes over from First Voice from this point up until 'sea'. But in the Yale TS Thomas alters the allocation of speeches, lets First Voice continue until 'sea', and reassigns to Second Voice the passage beginning 'The owls are hunting'.

  p. 17 sea…: Dots i
n MS and TS.

  p. 17 Belovèd: MS has the accent mark, which was omitted in the BBC typing.

  p. 17 parches: 'Parch' in Welsh is an abbreviation of the adjective 'parchedig' ('reverend') as the title of a clergyman, here illegitimately nominalised and pluralised with an English 's'. In the Yale TS Thomas deleted the word and replaced it with 'preachers', presumably for the sake of the American audience, not as a permanent change. (He omitted the whole passage in Mademoiselle.)

  p. 17 fast asleep: This was 'miles asleep' in MS; Thomas deleted 'miles' there and interlined 'fathoms', which was followed by the BBC typist and in the Jones edition. But in New York Thomas crossed out 'fathoms' and interlined 'fast', as seen in the Yale TS, a change which we adopt.

  p. 17 Pssst!: Assigning this word to Mr Pugh was another of Thomas's changes seen in the Yale TS. There is no manuscript authority for the spelling 'psst' of the Jones edition (1974).

  p. 17 Mary Ann the Sailors: Thomas was inconsistent in the name of this character, sometimes writing it as 'Mary Ann Sailors', which form was chosen by Jones for this edition. We choose 'Mary Ann the Sailors' throughout, without noting variants, because it is Thomas's overall preference and registers more clearly a common Welsh tradition whereby, given the paucity of surnames in Wales, a person was often identified by a nickname deriving from the individual's place of work or home. (See the Explanatory Note on 'Tom-Fred the donkeyman', p. 68).

  p. 18 the gippo's clothespegs: In the Yale TS Thomas interlined above the slang word 'gippo's' the more conventional 'gypsies'' — another concession to the American audience.

  p. 18 Turkish girls. Horizontal: MS had 'Harems', which was followed in the BBC typing and in the Jones edition; but Thomas in New York altered the Yale TS to the wording as here.

  p. 18 An owl / And the dawn: The Jones edition had one paragraph here. We however adopt the three one-line paragraphs of MS and TS.

  p. 18 reverberating on.]: MS and TS have 'on', which is omitted in the Jones edition.

  p. 18 sleeping in the first of the dawn: After this in MS, following Botteghe, Thomas wrote: 'The hill grazes on the lower fields'; but then he deleted it, and proceeded to revise thoroughly the Botteghe version of the next sentence, which had been: 'and the fields go down to the hazed town, rippling like a lake, to drink'.

  p. 19 VOICE OF A GUIDE-BOOK: A certain hesitancy about this speech may be indicated by Thomas's marginal 'NO', later deleted, and by the further marginal annotation 'NOT FOR NOW', again deleted. But these could have been markings indicating that the speech was to be omitted in Thomas's reading of the play in Tenby in early October 1953.

  p. 19 bylanes: The Jones edition added a hyphen. The MS and TS had it as one word.

  p. 19 river Dewi: The Jones edition has 'River', but MS and TS have lower case.

  p. 19 [A cock crows.]: The Yale TS indicates that the Second Voice could say these words, 'if nec'.

  p. 19 tells them, softly,: The Jones edition omits the commas that are found in both MS and TS.

  p. 20 Towns lovelier than ours: MS had 'lovlier', copied by the BBC typist; the Yale TS shows an apostrophe inserted to give 'lov'lier', which form appears in Mademoiselle. But Botteghe had 'lovelier' and we concur with Jones in accepting that emendation.

  p. 20 Llareggub Hill / River Dewi / Heron Head: These 'local' names were deliberately underlined by Thomas in MS and TS. 'Milk Wood' was not, but it was italicised in the Botteghe printing, which we follow.

  In his spelling of Welsh place-names in Eli Jenkins's verse, Thomas is inconsistent. Where the manuscripts have them in their correct (or a correct) Welsh form, we have preserved them: e.g. 'Moel y Wyddfa' (rather than Jones's 'Moel yr Wyddfa'), 'Penmaen Mawr' (rather than Jones's 'Penmaenmawr'), Senni (rather than Jones's 'Senny'), 'Dulas' (rather than Jones's 'Dulais', a different river). We have corrected Thomas's 'Llynfant' to 'Llynfnant' (where the error was akin to the metathesis that, close to Thomas's Swansea, had long since turned Dyfnant into Dynfant); 'Cerig Cennin' to 'Carreg Cenne'; 'Carnedd Llewellyn' to 'Carnedd Llewelyn'; and 'Ned' to 'Nedd', concurring with Jones in these emendations. We have not 'corrected' conventional Anglicised forms when used by Thomas himself — forms such as Dovey, Dee, Towy, etc. — again in agreement with Jones.

  The seventh stanza in Eli Jenkin's poem is a conflation of two stanzas as first printed in Botteghe:By Cerig Cennin, King of time,

  Our ruin in the spinnet

  Where owls do wink and squirrels climb

  Is aged but half a minute

  By Strumble or by Dinas Head,

  Our Heron Head is only

  A bit of stone and seaweed spread

  Where gulls come to be lonely

  p. 21 Oh, there's a face!: In revising in MS Lily Smalls's verse-like speech, Thomas inadvertently rewrote this first line without a comma after 'Oh'. The BBC typist typed the line without the comma, but, as in MS, correctly included commas after 'Oh' the four times it appears later. The Jones edition dropped all five commas, which are here restored.

  After printing in Botteghe a version of Lily Smalls's monologue quite similar to the final published version, Thomas in MS tried expanding it. The following additional lines constitute a first and third stanza, which are subsequently thoroughly crossed out:There's a oil painting!

  Hair, eyes, nose, lips, everything.

  Got a moustache as well,

  There's swank!

  What big eyes you got!

  Bit as a bluebottles

  Nice shade of custard too.

  Mind they don't drop out.

  p. 21 Cross my heart: Referring to this line, Thomas wrote a marginal note at rehearsal, 'Too Irish "heart"'.

  p. 22 mum…: The Jones edition drops the dots after 'mum' on both occasions here, though MS and TS have them.

  p. 22 In the cat-box?: A rehearsal note in the margin of the Yale TS indicates that Thomas wanted this line spoken 'Slower'.

  p. 22 on the stairs: The Jones edition omits the colon of MS and TS.

  [Door creaks open]: The sound effect of MS and TS is omitted in the Jones edition (1974).

  p. 22 I want to see: The Jones edition (1974) added a period, though the MS and TS do not have it, showing that the narrator's voice that follows states what she sees. (See next note.)

  p. 23 Lily Smalls the treasure: During the New York rehearsal Thomas wrote in the margin here: 'Come in quicker'.

  p. 23 stomping out: The BBC mistyped the MS 'stomping' as 'stamping', which was followed in the Jones edition.

  p. 23 What for, my dear?: The MS 'my' was omitted in the BBC typing, followed by the Jones edition. It is here restored.

  p. 23 heavens: / observe: MS and TS have colons, omitted in the Jones edition.

  p. 23 there's wives for you…: Dots of MS and TS are omitted in the Jones edition.

  p. 24 high heel: The Jones edition hyphenates, though MS and TS do not.

  p. 24 nothing else at all on: The Jones edition follows MS, which does not have 'on'; but Thomas added the word interlinearly in the Yale TS.

  p. 24 homemade: MS and TS have this as one word; the Jones edition makes it into two words. Similarly 'lemonrind' on p. 24.

  p. 24 to my bonny new baby: Polly Garter's speech after these words constitutes a major revision on Thomas's part, for the Botteghe version continued as follows:and listening to the voices of the blooming birds who seem to say to me

  CHILDREN'S VOICES (singsonging one after the other, on different notes):

  Polly / Love / Love / Polly / I love / Polly /

  Polly / Loves me / Polly / Love / Love / Polly /

  We love Polly / And Polly love / Lovely Polly /

  Loves us all…

  It is difficult to imagine how this passage would work in performance. There is evidence in Texas typescripts that Elizabeth Reitell dropped it during the retyping in New York in May 1953. Thomas noticed it was missing and wrote on the typescript: 'More "Polly" as Botteghe'. As an apparent response, there is a further not: 'I cut this, ER'. The passage was no
t reinstated, but a more universally satisfying monologue was composed by Thomas for Polly Garter at this point.

  p. 24 [Single long note held by Welsh male voices.]: MS had 'Single long high chord on strings', which was followed in the Jones edition; but in the Yale TS Thomas altered it to the wording here.

  p. 24 cats purr in the kitchens: MS had 'kitchen', followed in the Jones edition; but in the Yale TS Thomas added an 's'.

  p. 25 omelette: MS and TS have this form of the word; there is no manuscript authority for the 'omelet' of the Jones edition.

  p. 26 threw the sago: Thomas offered 'dumpling' as an alternative to the 'sago' in the Yale TS.

  p. 26 a inch: The Jones edition (1974) normalizes to 'an inch' the MS and TS 'a inch', which is here retained.

  One of the Texas typescripts used in a New York rehearsal contained at this point Thomas's marginal note: 'With more delight'.

  p. 26 'God has come home!': In the Yale TS Thomas underlines this sentence with a marginal rehearsal note: 'Give it more'.

  p. 26 Was I wounded?: Thomas's rehearsal note in Yale TS: 'temporary concern'.

  p. 26 'Does anybody want a fight?': There is no manuscript authority for the Jones edition substituting an exclamation mark for the question mark.

  p. 26 Give us a kiss: The 'us' was 'me' in MS, which was followed in the Jones edition; but in the Yale TS 'me' was deleted and 'us' interlined.

  p. 26 'Aberystwyth', tenor and bass: The hymn title 'Aberystwyth' (Joseph Parry) found in MS and TS was changed to 'Bread of Heaven' in the Jones edition without manuscript authority. The 'and' was underlined by Thomas in the Yale TS, which we follow.

  p. 26 I always sing 'Aberystwyth': One of the Texas typescripts adds the phrase 'when I'm snobbled'.

  p. 26 And then what did I do?: After this question, the rest of the exchange between Mr and Mrs Owen is a much expanded version of the one line that ended it in the prior version: 'Then you sang Aberystwyth all over again.' This earlier line is seen in MS at the point where Thomas ended his holograph writing-out of a fair copy of the play, and began using the May 1953 typescript for the rest of the text. Against the earlier line in the typescript Thomas had written a note to himself: 'rewrite'.