Actors Shakespeare Company at NJCU

Below is an excerpt from Under Milkwood, a play by Dylan Thomas, read by the poet himself. This is his single most popular prose piece, written during his so-called later period in 1954. It is, as is A Child's Christmas in Wales, a play for voices.

Critics noted the similarities between Thomas and James Joyce. In Under Milk Wood and Joyce's Ulysses, each author captures the life of a whole society as it is reflected in a single day. Joyce's day, of course, takes place in the vibrant city of Dublin; Thomas's day, however, takes place in the cozy Welsh village of Llaregyub. Do you hear echoes of Spoon River (Edgar Lee Masters, 1915) as well?

What is your critical observation?