New research claims Dylan Thomas' early poems were plagiarised
Italian publisher claims to have identified at least a dozen examples
Dylan Thomas repeatedly plagiarised the work of others while he was a schoolboy, new research has claimed.
The Welsh poet is said to have attached his name to "audacious rip-offs" in his youth, according to a study by Alessandro Gallenzi, a publisher and Italian translator.
Gallenzi, who describes himself as a "lifelong admirer of Thomas and his poetry", claims to have identified at least a dozen examples of plagiarised poems in research published in the Times Literary Supplement (TLS).
Thomas, born in Swansea, is known for Under Milk Wood, which began as a radio play in 1954, and poems including Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.
The "plagiarised" poems are said to have been published under Thomas' name while he was a student at Swansea Grammar School, in the school magazine and in the Swansea newspaper The Herald of Wales.
Gallenzi describes his findings as "a chain of outrageous thefts stretching over at least a four-year period".
He said: "Thomas had not simply drawn inspiration from other texts, imitated or parodied them, as he later claimed: he had stolen the work of other authors wholesale, at times changing the title or a few words, perhaps to dodge detection."
The new evidence will "revolutionise our thinking of Dylan Thomas's formative years," Gallenzi added.
The poems will appear under a section headed The Plagiarised and Dubious Poems, in a new edition of Thomas's poetry, published by Alma Books later this month.