The first landmark in this new development was the publication in 1621 of Edmwnd Prys’s metrical version of the Psalms (followed by later editions in 1628, 1630, 1638 and 1648), and of the first poem of the Welshmen’s Candle (Cannwyll y Cymry) of Rhys Pritchard, vicar of Llandovery (1569-1644). This was published in 1646. These works were not written in the old metres peculiar to Wales, but in the free metres, like those of English poetry. The former work is of the utmost importance, as these Psalms were about the first metrical hymns in use. They are often rugged and uncouth, but many of the verses—such as the 23rd Psalm—have a haunting melody of their own, which grips the mind once and for ever. The second work, the first complete edition of which was published in 1672, consisted of moral verses in the metres of the old folk-songs (Penillion Telyn), and for nearly two centuries was the “guide, philosopher and friend” of the common people. Many other poets of the early part of this period wrote in these metres, such as Edward Dafydd o Fargam (fl. 1640), Rowland Fychan, Morgan Llwyd o Wynedd and William Phylip (d. 1669). Poetry in the free metres, however, was generally very crude, until it was given a new dignity by the greatest poet of the period, Huw Morus o Bont y Meibion (1622-1709). Most of his earlier compositions, which are among his best, and which were influenced to a great extent by the cavalier poetry of England, are love poems, perfect marvels of felicitous ingenuity and sweetness. He fixed the poetic canons of the free metres, and made what was before homely and uncouth, courtly and dignified. He wrote a cywydd marwnad to his contemporary, Edward Morus o’r Perthi Llwydion (d. 1689), who was also a poet of considerable merit. Most of his work is composed of “moral pieces” and carols. Other poets of the period were Sion Dafydd Las (1650-1691), who was among the last of the family bards, and Dafydd Jones o Drefriw (fl. 1750). Towards the end of the period comes Lewys Morys (1700-1765). His poetry alone does not seem to warrant his fame, but he was the creator of a new period, the inspirer and the patron of Goronwy Owen. According to the lights of the 18th century, he was, like his brothers Richard and William, a scholar. His poetry, except a few well-known pieces, will never be popular, because it does not conform to modern canons of taste. His greatest merit is that he wrote the popular poetry then in vogue with a scholar’s elegance.
8. The Revival, 1750-1830.—The two leading figures in this period are Goronwy Owen (1722-1769) and William Williams, Pantycelyn (1717-1791). Goronwy Owen wrote all his poetry in the cynghanedd, and his work gave the old metres a new life. He raised them from the neglect into which they had fallen, and caused them to be, till this day, the vehicle of half the poetical thought of Wales. But he was in no way a representative of his age; he, like Milton, sang among a crowd of inferior poets themes quite detached from the life of his time, so that he also, like his English brother, lacks “human interest.” After Dafydd ab Gwilym, he is the greatest poet who sang in the old metres, and the influence of his correct and fastidious muse remains to this day. William Williams, however, wrote in the free metres in a way that was astoundingly fresh. It is not enough to say of him that he was a hymnologist; he is much more, he is the national poet of Wales. He had certainly the loftiest imagination of all the poets of five centuries, and his influence on the Welsh people can be gauged by the fact that a good deal of his idiom and dialect has fixed itself indelibly on modern literary Welsh. Besides the hymns, he wrote a religious epic, Theomemphus, which is to this day the national epic of evangelical Wales. Even as Goronwy Owen is the father of modern Welsh poetry in the old metres, so William Williams is the great fountain-head of the free metres, because he set aflame the imagination of every poet that succeeded him. With two such pioneers, it is natural that the rest of this period should contain many great names. Thomas Edwards (Twm o’r Nant) (1739-1810) has been called by an unwarrantably bold hyperbole, “the Welsh Shakespeare.” Most of his works are interludes and ballads, and he used to be very popular with the common people; he is, to this day, probably the oftenest quoted of all the Welsh poets. William Wynn, rector of Llangynhafal (1704-1760), is the author of a “Cywydd of the Great Judgment,” which bears comparison with Goronwy Owen’s masterpiece. Evan Evans (Ieuan Brydydd Hir) (1731-1789) was famous both as a poet and as a scholar and antiquarian. Edward Rhisiart (1714-1777), the schoolmaster of Ystradmeurig, was a scholar and a writer of pastorals in the manner of Theocritus. Most of the other poets who flourished towards the end of this period—Dafydd Ddu Eryri (1760-1822), Gwallter Mechain (1761-1849), Robert ab Gwilym Ddu (1767-1850), Dafydd Ionawr (1751-1827), Dewi Wyn o Eifion (1784-1841)—were brought into prominence by the Eisteddfod, which began to increase in influence during this period until it has become to-day the national festival. They all wrote for the most part in cynghanedd, and the work of nearly all of them is marked by correctness rather than by poetical inspiration.
9. Prose after 1830.—In the preceding periods, we have seen that Welsh prose, though abundant in quantity, had a very narrow range. Few writers rose above theological controversy or moral treatises, and the humaner side of literature was almost entirely neglected. In this period, however, we find a prose literature that, with the exception of scientific works, is as wide in its range as that of England, and all departments are well and competently represented, though by but few names. Dr Lewis Edwards (1809-1887) struck a new note when he began to contribute his literary and theological essays to the periodicals, but, though many have equalled and even surpassed him as theological essayists, few, if any, of his followers have attempted the literary and critical essays on which his fame as writer must mainly rest. Together with Gwilym Hiraethog (1802-1883), the author of the inimitable Llythyrau Hen Ffarmwr, he may be regarded as the pioneer of the new literature. Samuel Roberts (1800-1885), generally known as S.R., wrote numerous tracts and books on politics and economics, and as a political thinker he was in many respects far in advance of his English contemporaries. It was in this period, too, that Wales had her national novelist, Daniel Owen (1836-1895). He was a novelist of the Dickens school, and delighted like his great master “in writing mythology rather than fiction.” He has created a new literary atmosphere, in which the characters of Puritanical and plebeian Wales move freely and without restraint. He can never be eclipsed just as Sir Walter Scott cannot be eclipsed, because the Wales which he describes is slowly passing away. He has many worthy disciples, among whom Miss Winnie Parry is easily first. Indeed, in her finer taste and greater firmness of touch, she stands on a higher plane than even her great master. The inspiring genius of the latter part of this period is Owen M. Edwards (b. 1858), and, as a stylist, all writers of Welsh prose since Ellis Wynn have to concede him the laurel. His little books of travel and history and anecdote have created, or rather, are creating a new school of writers, scrupulously and almost pedantically careful and correct, an ideal which, on its philological side is the outcome of the scientific study of the language as inaugurated by Sir John Rhŷs and Professor Morris Jones. One of the earliest, if not the ablest writer of this “new Welsh” was the independent and original Emrys ap Iwan (d. 1906), whose Homiliau was published in 1907.
10. Poetry after 1820.—The origins of this period are really placed in the last period. Its great characteristics are the development of the lyric, and the influence of English and continental ideas. Just as the cywydd was among the older writers the favourite form of poetry, so the lyric becomes now paramount, almost to the exclusion of other forms. The first great name, after those already mentioned in the development of this form of poetry, is that of Anne Griffiths (1776-1805). Her poetry is exclusively composed of hymns, but to the English mind, the word “hymn” is entirely inadequate to give any idea of the passion, the mysticism and the rich symbolistic grace of her poems. She gave to the Welsh lyric the depth and the rather melancholy intensity which has always characterized it. Evan Evans (Ieuan Glan Geirionydd) (1795-1855) was also a hymnologist, but he wrote many secular lyrics and awdlau—among the former being the famous Morfa Rhuddlan. Ebenezer Thomas (Eben Fardd) (1802-1863) was a famous Eisteddfodwr; his best work is his awdlau, and no one will deny him the distinction of being the master poet of the awdl in the 19th century. Gwilym Cawrdaf (1795-1848), also a writer of awdlau, has the gift of simple and direct expression, well exemplified in Hiraeth Cymro am ei wlad. Daniel Ddu (1792-1846) was a scholar who wrote some touching lyrics and hymns. Gwilym Hiraethog (1802-1883) attempted an epic, Emmanuel, with indifferent success. His shorter works and some of his awdlau are of a much higher order. Caledfryn (1801-1869) was a direct successor of Dewi Wyn and the earlier writers of awdlau, but his Drylliad y Rothsay Castle is superior to anything which his master wrote. Similar in genius, though not on quite as high a plane, were Nicander (1809-1874), Cynddelw (1812-1875), Gwalchmai (1803-1897) and Tudno (1844-1895).
John Blackwell (Alun) (1797-1840) was a lyricist of the first order. With Ieuan Glan Geirionydd, he is the pioneer of the secular lyric of the 19th century. Succeeding to this group of lyricists, we have another later group, Ceiriog (1832-1887), Talhaiarn (1810-1869) and Mynyddog (1833-1877), who certainly had the advantage over their predecessors in freshness, in vigour and in human interest, but they lacked the scholastic training of the earlier group, and so their work is often uneven, and cannot therefore be fairly compared with that of the earlier poets. Ceiriog, of course, is the greater name of the three, and is to Wales what Robert Burns was to Scotland, sharing with him his poetical faults and merits. He is called the national poet of Wales, because he was the first to sing of the land and the nation he knew, and he cast the glamour of his genius over the life of the gwerin, the peasants of Wales.
Somewhat higher flights were essayed by Gwilym Marles (1834-1879) and Islwyn (1832-1878). Their poetry is Wordsworthian and mystical, and well exemplifies the love of metaphysics and speculation which is growing in Wales. Islwyn’s Y storm, though uneven, is full of powerful passages, and he was a master of blank verse. Of the remaining poets of the period living in 1908, the most distinguished was the Rev. Elvet Lewis in the older generation, and Eifion Wyn in the younger—both writers of lyrics. Other lyrical poets of the first class are Gwylfa and Silyn Roberts. In the old metres, two poets stand out prominent above all others—J. Morris Jones and T. Gwynn Jones. The Awdl i Famon of the former, and the Ymadawiad Arthur of the latter, gave reason to believe that Welsh poetry was only entering on its golden period.
Authorities.—General.—T. Stephens, Literature of the Kymry (London², 1876); L.C. Stern in Die Kultur d. Gegenwart, i. xi. 1 pp. 114-130; Gweirydd ap Rhys. Hanes Llenyddiaeth Gymreig, 1300-1650 (London, 1885); C. Ashton, Hanes Llenyddiaeth Gymreig, 1651-1850 (Liverpool, 1893); J. Loth, Les Mabinogion (2 vols., Paris, 1889); E. Anwyl, Prolegomena to Welsh Poetry (London, 1905), also on the Mabinogi in Zeitschr. f. celt. Phil. i. 277 ff.; I.B. John, The Mabinogion (London, 1901); T. Shankland, Diwygwyr Cymru, reprinted from Seren Gomer (1899); W.J. Gruffydd, Foreign Influences on Welsh Literature in the XIV. and XV. Centuries, Guild of Welsh Graduates (1908); Gwilym Lleyn, Llyfryddiaeth y Cymry (Llanidloes, 1867); Robert Williams, Enwogion Cymru (Llandovery, 1852); Owen Jones, Cymru (2 vols., London, 1875); D.W. Nash, History of the Battle of Cattraeth (Tenby, 1861); Encyclopaedia Cambrensis (10 vols²., 1889-1896); C. Ashton, Bywyd ac amserau yr Esgob Morgan (Treherbert, 1891); J. Foulkes, J. Ceiriog Hughes, ei fywyd a’i waith (Liverpool, 1887); J.M. Jones, Llenyddiaeth fy ngwlad (Holywell, 1893); H. Elvet Lewis, Sweet Singers of Wales (London, 1889); H.W. Lloyd, Welsh Books Printed Abroad in the XVI. and XVII. Centuries (London, 1881).
Anthologies, Selected Prose and Verse, &c.—W.F. Skene, The Four Ancient Books of Wales (2 vols., Edinburgh, 1868); W. Owen (Pughe), Iolo Morganwg and Owen Jones (Myfyr), Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales (3 vols., London, 1801;² Denbigh, 1870, in 1 vol.); Dr John Davies (o Fallwyd), Flores Poetarum Britannicorum (Shrewsbury, 1710; Swansea, 1814; reprinted London, 1864); Iolo Morganwg, Iolo Manuscripts (Llandovery, 1848); E. Evans, Some Specimens of the Poetry of the Antient Welsh Bards translated into English, &c. (London, 1764); Hugh Jones, Dewisol Ganiadau yr Oes Hon (Shrewsbury, 1759;5 Merthyr, 1827), Diddanwch Teuluaidd (London, 1763); David Jones, Blodeugerdd Cymry (Shrewsbury², 1779); Owen Jones, Ceinion Llenyddiaeth Gymreig (2 vols., London, 1876); W. Lewis Jones, Caniadau Cymru (Bangor², 1908); W. Jenkyn Thomas, Penillion Telyn (Carnarvon, 1894); Myrddin Fardd, Cynfeirdd Lleyn (1905); Cyfres Lien Cymru, vols. i.-vi. (Cardiff, 1900-1906); W.J. Gruffydd, Y Flodeugerdd Newydd (Cardiff, 1908); O.M. Edwards, Beirdd y Berwyn (Conway, 1903).
Versification, &c,—Dafydd Morganwg, Yr Ysgol Farddol (Cardiff3, 1887); Iolo Morganwg, Cyfrinach Beirdd Ynys Prydain (Merthyr, 1829²; Carnarvon, 1874); Simwnt Vychan and Dafydd Ddu Athraw, Dosparth Edeyrn Davod Aur, ed. by J. Williams ab Ithel (Llandovery, 1856); J. Morris Jones, “Welsh Versification,” Zeitschr.f. celt. Phil. iv. pp. 106-142.