Pen and Plough - 20th Century Poets and Bards of Ceredigion

by Diarmuid Johnson

A study of social, economic and cultural change in Ceredigion, West Wales, in the 20th century, as documented in verse composed in Welsh by Ceredigion bards and poets of the time. The material is derived from volumes of poetry that appeared in book-form between 1933 and 2012. The authors whose work is the subject of the book were born into the farming community of Ceredigion. Most of them were raised on the land, becoming and remaining farmers. Many of them left school young, and received little if any formal higher education. These are the men of Ceredigion who plied both pen and Dafydd Jones (Isfoel), Richard Davies (Isgarn), Alun Jones y Cilie, B. T. Hopkins, J. M. Edwards, W. J. Gruffydd, John Roderick Rees, J. R. Jones Tal-y-Bont, Dafydd Jones Ffair Rhos, Evan Rowlands Ffair Rhos, S. B. Jones y Cilie and Dic Jones

196 pages, Paperback

Published September 30, 2016

Reviews

[Maia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Live there so gripping, perfect introduction if you want to know about 20th century Ceredigion poets. Ignore the ignorant assertions peppering the first two chapters that there are no working peasant poets in other European languages (Rabbie Burns? John Clare? for starters) because he's passionate and informative on what he does know and sticks to it pretty quickly. You either want to learn about mid 20th century Ceredigion Welsh language poets, context, poems, careers, or you don't: a reviewer's job was never easier. Contains no full translations but describes some individual poems for each bard. Women not treated with except their exclusion from the volume and examples discussed. Explains Welsh poetic terms used but is not a full guide to verse forms etc and does not really discuss the maintenance of oral tradition or assemblies of bards, jobs etc much before its period. Gripping.