Welsh Journals

The Poet Gray and Wales. By Llewelyn C. Lloyd. IT has been well said of Thomas Gray that "he was the first man of importance to revolt against the formalism of the poets of the age into which he was born," the writer of this sentence, however, qualifying it by adding that this distinction was shared by Collins. The breaking away from eighteenth-century formalism can, with tolerable safety, be said to have com- menced about 1728 when James Thomson pub- lished his "Winter." And of the literary men who rallied to his side Gray was one of the most considerable. He joined in the fight in 1751 with the "Elegy," and followed this six years later with "The Bard." He occupies a position of peculiar import in the revolt inasmuch as he illustrates not only one but several aspects of the new era, which was later to bear full fruit in the purer, natural poetry of Wordsworth, Scott and Shelley. A characteristic of the new spirit which was coming into literature was an appreciation for old legends and ballads, and this explains-partly at any rate-the ready public that was found for Gray's "Bard," MacPherson's "Ossian" (1762), Percy's "Reliques" (1765), and Ritson's "Collection of English Songs" (1783) and "Ancient Songs" (1790), as well as the Rowley Papers of Chatterton. Gray's work in this class is quite a small group of seven poems and fragments, of which five are definitely Welsh in setting and character — "The Bard," "The Triumphs of Owen," "The Death of Hoel," and the small fragments "Caradoc" and "Conan." No writer on English literature since the eighteenth century has failed to remark on the smallness of Gray's contribution, and that these of his poems are so intimately wrapped up in Welsh history argues a strong sympathy on the poet's part with Wales. Gray visited the county of Monmouth in 1770, and describes his journey- ings in a letter to Wharton dated August 24th. Of the county town he says :Monmouth, a town I never heard mentioned, lies in the same river in a vale that is the delight of my eyes and the very seat of pleasure." This appears to have been the poet's only visit to Wales, although Carl Morgannwg in "The Way about South Wales," speaking of the surroundings of Briton Ferry, says :Here the poets Gray and Mason were wont to wander in search of inspiration." Mason, poetaster and friend and biographer of Grav, was, of course, immensely interested in Wales and things Welsh. His tragedy "Carac- tacus," published in 1759, is entirely in a Welsh setting, and an unnamed "Dramatic Poem" pub- lished five years later also deals with Caractacus, the King of South Wales, and his defeat at the hands of Ostorius, which caused him to flee to Anglesey, with his only daughter, to take refuge among the Druids there. He, no doubt, had told Gray much about the Wales of these romantic times, and the poet's interest having been stim- ulated it was strengthened by his enthusiasm for old ballads and folk-tales, as well as by the Welshmen who came into his life. Writing to Wharton in 1760 he remarks :—" The Welch poets are coming to light. I have seen a Dis- course in M.S. about them (by one Mr Evans, a clergyman), with specimens of their writings. This is in Latin, but though it doesn't approach the other there are some fine scraps in it." This "Discourse" was not published until 1764, when it appeared in a thick quarto with the full-dress title — "Some Specimens of the Poetry of the Antient Welsh Bards. Translated into English, with Explanatory Notes on the Historical Pas- sages, and a short Account of Men and Places mentioned by the Bards, in order to give the Curious some Idea of the Taste and Sentiments of our Ancestors, and their Manner of Writing. By the Rev Mr Evan Evans, Curate of Llan- vair Talyhaearn in Denbighshire." This work comprised three parts-the first in English, the second in Latin, and the third in Welsh-and each part contained the same poems. It was here that Gray found his material for the Welsh poems. The Rev Evan Evans, who Jived be- tween 1731 and 1789, was a famous Welsh bard under the title of Ieuan Brydydd Hir, a literal translation of which is John the tall poet. He was born at Lledrod, Cardiganshire, educated at Ystradmeurig Grammar School and after leaving Oxford entered the Church. In addition to certainly extracting the material for his Welsh poem from Evans' book, it is probable that Gray also gained from it most of his knowledge of ancient Welsh literature and tra- dition. But he evidently took a deep interest in these matters, for references to them are con- stantly cropping up in his prose works. For in- stance, in his "Observations on the Pseudo- Rhythmus" he says:The Welch still preserve the works of the ancient British bards, Taliessin, Benbeirdh and Lomarkk, who lived towards the end of the sixth century, and wrote in rhyme." Later he speaks with a certain amount of con- fidence of rhyme being employed in Wales about the year 590. In his essay named "Cambri" are passages, too long for quotation, which show him to have a fairly extensive acquaintance with Welsh poetry, and he affords additional hints as to the sources of his information when he men- tions Lewis Morris, the famous Welsh antiquary and Dr. David ap Rhys's "Linguae Cambro- Britannicac Institutiones." No reader of the poet's life can fail to have been impressed by the number of Welshmen who enter its pages-Robert Lloyd, the sprightly wit and "man of the world"; John Parry, the blind harpist, of whom more later; Sir William