Welsh Journals

Welsh literature. The number of hours devoted to the study of Welsh literature in the course of a session is approximately the same as that given to English literature nor is there any appreciable disparity in the labour involved. But whereas the Welsh student has to spend an unconscionable amount of time and talent on composition, English and Welsh, the English student may give all his time to a study of the masters. This, then, is what accounts for the fewness of prescribed books in the Welsh Syllabus for the exclusion of our voluminous Victorian literature (it would demand a fair length of time to translate, line by line, a colossal volume of lslwyn !) and, by induction, for the dearth of young graduates who can write Welsh prose with distinction and e«u»e lastly, let us admit it, for much that is archaic and overnice in our new poetry. Therefore we venture, in our presumption. to suggest to the reader the following reformatory measures:- 1. That the translation into English of our Welsh authors in prose and verse be completely and finally abolished. 2. That the time thus saved be devoted to addi- tional literature. Hedfanai ei bysedd, gwennoliaid cerdd, 0 nodyn i nodyn glan, A thonnai'r gynghanedd yn wenith aur Dan ysgafn chwaon y gan A chanu serch oedd ei chanu hi Fal y gweddai i ugain oed, A chyffes mwyneiddiach o galon merch Ni roddwyd i brydydd erioed. MODRWY. Nid i mi ydoedd un cyfrinach wyl Ac fel lleidr dan oleu'r lloer, Y cuddiais y cyfan melys yn ol Ym mhlethiad y seiniau oer Hedfanai'r gwennoliaid yn ol a blaen 0 hyd dros y nodau gwyn, Ond crinodd y gwenith aur yn y mellt A cherddodd y dydd dros y bryn. Penybont. 3. That this additional literature be mainly. if not wholly, prescribed from the Victorian era. 4. That exercises in Welsh composition should consist in Welsh answers to Welsh questions on Welsh literature. We believe that the first and second of the above would meet with the unconditional support and approval of all lovers of literature, Welsh, English, or otherwise. The third may be objected to on the ground that much of our recent literature is unsound and inartistic in matters of language and style. The answer to this objection is that the best in our Victorian writers is also the best in the whole of our literature; and that their orthographical and other defects should interest rather than repel the young critic, who is too often disposed to mistake high grammar for literature. As to the fourth suggestion, if it is found practicable to couch in Welsh the questions in Central Welsh Board test papers for pupils of schools in English-speaking localities (it will be remembered that our indictment of the Board's methods concerned the schools in Welsh- speaking areas), how much more practicable is it in the colleges, and how much more urgent ? Ei bysedd gwynion, dilynwn hwy, Can ddarllen mewn llesmair mud Y llawer cyfrinach a blethai hi Ym mhlethiad y seiniau drud Ei bysedd gwynion-a'r fodrwy fach (A, ryfedd dallineb bardd !) A Uewych y mellt o'r rhuddem a'r gem Yn darnio'm breuddwydion hardd. W. Evans.