Some of Dylan Thomas’s Books : Harold Norse
Harold Norse, The Undersea Mountain
Alan Swallow, Denver, Colorado, 1953. 54 p.
The New Poetry Series, 8
First Edition. The dustjacket front cover has doodling in pencil. There is some filling in of the letters of the title and circling round the author’s name. Thomas was in the habit on doodling on things so this is likely his work.
Inscription on the front flyleaf:
“May, 1953
For Dylan with Love”
This is one of a small collection of books the library owns that were formerly owned by Dylan Thomas.
The book is the noted poet Harold Norse’s first ever collection of poetry. Harold Norse (1916-2009) was an avant-garde poet who was associated with the Beat movement. A bookish illegitimate Brooklyn gay Jew he moved in New York literary circles befriending Alan Ginsburg, W. H. Auden, for whom he worked as a secretary, and James Baldwin amongst others. Norse met Dylan Thomas during his first visit to New York in 1950 on the first day of his arrival and was one of those who went drinking with him in places like Greenwich Village during his trip.
Norse’s poetic talents were recognised by the noted poet William Carlos Williams in 1951 and he published poems in notable literary magazines and anthologies. These verses were collected in The Undersea Mountain published in the well-respected New Poetry Series from Alan Swallow press. Norse’s early poetry in this book while deeply impressionistic, was relatively formal, though he was already experimenting with using everyday speech in verse something that was to become a trademark. The possible influence of Dylan Thomas’s work can be seen in a number of poems such as this passage:
The Undersea Mountain, p. 44
This influence perhaps explains why Norse wanted to give Dylan a copy of his book. The date in it indicates it was given to Dylan during his third trip to America in May 1953. This was the time when the first full performance of Under Milk Wood was held on May 14th in the Poetry Center, in New York.
While Norse’s book was noted in the press, soon after it was published he decided on a trip to Europe leading to a long period as an expatriate poet for 15 years, including living with a number of beat writers in a hotel in Paris. Norse achieved his greatest recognition in the 1970s while living in San Francisco when he was known as one of the leading US gay poets. You can find out more about Norse in this Guardian obituary: