Writing as long ago as 1936, Edith Sitwell said of Thomas: 'The work of this young man is on a huge scale both in theme and structurally, and the form of many of the poems is superb.' Thomas, one of the most controversial poets of the century, is also one of the most widely discussed, dividing both critics and readers - 'the scoffers and the understanders', as Kenneth Hopkins puts it. Dylan Thomas himself selected the contents of COLLECTED POEMS 1934-1952 and it contains, in his own words, 'most of the poems I have written and all, up to the present year [1952] that I wish to preserve'. He died, of course, in the following year. Now Thomas'poetry has an esyablished place in our literary heritage, it is fitting that a representative collection should be available in paperback.'Seeing the scope and intensity of the total work, it need no longer be eccentric to claim that Thomas is the greatest living poet in the English Language.'PHILIP TOYNBEE, Observer (1952)