39. Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas

There are several competing theories as to why Thomas chose the name ‘Milk Wood’. One of the most ingenious was offered by the critic JS Dugdale, who observed that the milkwood tree secretes latex, which is used to make condoms, and that Milk Wood is mentioned in the play almost exclusively as a trysting-place for lovers (consider: ‘Lily Smalls, Mrs Beynon's treasure, comes downstairs from a dream of royalty who all night long went larking with her full of sauce in the Milk Wood dark…’ or this: ‘Which of their gandering hubbies moaned in Milk Wood for your naughty mothering arms and body like a wardrobe, love?’).

Thomas was certainly not averse to joke-names. Under Milk Wood’s working title was ‘Llareggub’ - ‘bugger all’ backwards - a joke carried over from one of his earlier stories, ‘The Orchard’. In an unpublished MS another planned work has the title ‘Llaberos and Muberab in Llareggub’ (try saying the names backwards).

Consulted:
Dugdale, JS: Dylan Thomas. Under Milk Wood (Notes on chosen English texts) (1964)
Ferris, Paul: Dylan Thomas (1977)

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