The Poetry of Wales

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Title: The Poetry of Wales
Author: John Jenkins
Release Date: June 6, 2006 [eBook #18523]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
POETRY OF WALES***
Transcribed from the 1873 Houlston & Sons edition, by David Price,
email [email protected]
THE POETRY OF WALES.
EDITED BY
JOHN JENKINS, Esq.
"I offer you a bouquet of culled flowers, I did not grow, only collect
and arrange them."--PAR LE SEIGNEUR DE MONTAIGNE.
LONDON: HOULSTON & SONS, PATERNOSTER SQUARE

LLANIDLOES: JOHN PRYSE.
1873.
[_Cheap Edition_.--_All Rights Reserved_.]

PREFACE.
The Editor of this little Collection ventures to think it may in some
measure supply a want which he has heard mentioned, not only in the
Principality, but in England also. Some of the Editor's English
friends--themselves being eminent in literature--have said to him, "We
have often heard that there is much of value in your literature and of
beauty in your poetry. Why does not some one of your literati translate
them into English, and furnish us with the means of judging for
ourselves? We possess translated specimens of the literature, and
especially the poetry of almost every other nation and people, and
should feel greater interest in reading those of the aborigines of this
country, with whom we have so much in common." It was to gratify
this wish that the Editor was induced to give his services in the present
undertaking, from which he has received and will receive no pecuniary
benefit; and his sole recompense will be the satisfaction of having
attempted to extend and perpetuate some of the treasures and beauties
of the literature of his native country.
INTRODUCTION.
The literature of a people always reflects their character. You may
discover in the prose and poetry of a nation its social condition, and in
their different phases its political progress. The age of Homer was the
heroic, in which the Greeks excelled in martial exploits; that of Virgil
found the Romans an intellectual and gallant race; the genius of
Chaucer, Spencer and Sidney revelled in the feudal halls and enchanted
vistas of the middle ages; Shakespeare delineated the British mind in its
grave and comic moods; Milton reflected the sober aspect and spiritual
aspirations of the Puritanical era; while at later periods Pope,
Goldsmith and Cowper pourtrayed the softer features of an advanced
civilization and milder times.
Following the same rule, the history of Wales is its literature. First
came the odes and triads, in which the bards recited the valour,
conquests and hospitality of their chieftains, and the gentleness, beauty
and virtue of their brides. This was the age of Aneurin, of Taliesin and
Llywarch Hen. Next came the period of love and romance, wherein

were celebrated the refined courtship and gay bridals of gallant knights
and lovely maids. This was the age of Dafydd ap Gwilym, of Hywel ap
Einion and Rhys Goch. In later times appeared the moral songs and
religious hymns of the Welsh Puritans, wherein was conspicuous above
all others William Williams of Pantycelyn, aptly denominated "The
Sweet Psalmist of Wales."
The Principality, like every other country, has had and has its orators,
its philosophers and historians; and, much as they are prized by its
native race, we venture to predict that the productions of none will
outlive the language in which their prose is spoken and writ. Not that
there is wanting either eloquence or grandeur or force in their orations
and essays, depth or originality in their philosophical theories, or
truthfulness, research or learning in their historic lore; but that neither
the graces of the first, the novelty of the next, or the fidelity of the last
will in our opinion justify a translation into more widely spoken
tongues, and be read with profit and interest by a people whose libraries
are filled with all that is most charming in literature, most profound in
philosophy and most new and advanced in science and art.
Our evil prophecy of its prose does not however extend to the poetry of
Wales, for like all other branches of the Celtic race, the ancient Britons
have cultivated national song and music with a love, skill and devotion
which have produced poems and airs well deserving of extensive
circulation, long life and lasting fame. The poetic fire has inspired the
nation from the most primitive times, for we find that an order of the
Druidical priests were bards who composed