Welsh Journals

which they have already devoted themselves, and one can hardly believe that the Eisteddfod is ful- filling its whole function in giving distinction to work which would in any case win distinction and honour in other circles of scholarship. In such circumstances, the Eisteddfod helps to produce no great prose work of distinction. That is the real need in W.elsh literature to-day, and as far as one is able to judge, present Eistedd- fodic conditions warn us that we must turn to some sphere other than the Eisteddfod for the solution of the problem. In the present scheme of things, the Eisteddfod does nothing to help the publication or the writing of a Welsh novel, it does nothing to produce in our literature those tales and romances, where fancy, not affected by restrictions of subject and form, develops into imagination. It is a most serious criticism, and it is certainly true. III. The question of adjudications is another prob- lem which must be seriously considered in the near future. It is pleasing to realize that literary criticism in Wales is developing into artistic work of real value, thanks chiefly to Professors Sir John Morris-Jones and T. Gwynn Jones, and it is unfair to the cause of criticism as well as to the adjudicators themselves that the time allowed them for their work should be so completely in- adequate. Most Eisteddfod adjudicators are busy men, and yet, in the case of the Crown and Chair poems for example, the three adjudicators in each case are allowed from the beginning of June to the end of July only, three weeks each, to read over twenty or thirty or more poems of great length, and write their adjudications, and usually they have three or four other competitions each with its thirty or forty or fifty competitors, all to be decided in the same period. One cannot expect first-class criticism under such conditions, and the result is that many of the adjudications are poor and purposeless, and it is not strange to find literary critics in their work of real criticism in more leisured moments contradicting state- ments they had made and views they had held a year or two previously concerning the value of poems for which they had awarded prizes in an Eisteddfod when they had had no real oppor- tunity of determining the real worth of the poems submitted them. It is not strange, either, to find adjudicators in such "rushed" circumstances declaring a poem unworthy and at the same time awarding it the prize. IV. Of the organisation, much may be said. The influence of the Gorsedd upon organization and enterprise succeeds only in cramping the develop- ment of the Eisteddfod although it adds appre- ciably to the number of complimentary ticket holders. A question of great importance is the relative importance of literature and music in the Eisteddfod. There is much to be said in favour of a separate tent for literature. It gives adjudicator and competitor an opportunity of personal contact, and can be of very real value from the point of view of criticism. But I am inclined to agree, nevertheless, with Mr. Saunders Lewis, that although the Eisteddfod still gives poetry an opportunity, it is no more a school or the cause for poetry. The divorce of literature from the Eisteddfod is rapidly be- coming more evident, writes Mr. Lewis, and in the Eisteddfod pavilion music is now mistress." But although music is mistress, it is a most unsatisfactory one, and is elevated to such a position not from its own merits as an art as much as from the crowd's pleasure and delight at witnessing and hearing the clever perform- ances of well-trained individuals and choirs. Eisteddfod music is enjoyed to a far too high degree, not from an artistic love, but as some- thing similar to an acrobatic display, just as Welsh preachers are enjoyed by congrega- tions which seek entertainment not edification; the glamour of the Gorsedd produces a like effect. My statement is substantiated by the fact that literature, which admits of no such visual performances, is given but scant atten- tion, although the glamour of the chairing and crowning ceremonies remains the most important feature of the week. As S.L." of the Man- chester Guardian has pointed out, it would be far better for Wales to support non-competitive music Festivals of real and abiding value than grow ecstatic, and hysterical, too, over meetings where the only elements which are generally appreciated are those of competition and physical skill. The whole problem therefore resolves itself into a problem of principle and a problem of time. The most important part of the problem of principle is the abolition of money prizes. In pleading such an abolition I know I plead an unpopular cause, but one is glad to think that the avarice which has gripped the Eisteddfod does not reach back much further than the last century, and one can only hope for its early disappearance. If it does disappear, the Welsh Eisteddfod-competing community will be on trial to decide whether its love of art-after all our talk about our own virtues-goes deeper than the bottom of its money-bags. It is a test and a trial urgently needed, and under present con- ditions the result is an uncertain one. The problem of time is more open to solution; it is a question of organization, but, judging from effects, it is quite as important as the problem of prizes. As a nation, we have prided ourselves upon our religion, our educational system, our nation- alism, and our Eisteddfod. Our religion is shallow, our education system is rotten, much of our nationalism is invertebrate. Is our Eisteddfod an exception to what seems to be a far too general rule? The next ten years must decide.