T. Gwynn Jones

Welsh poet, scholar, literary critic, novelist, translator, and journalist

Y Prifardd Professor T. Gwynn Jones
Anonymous portrait of T. Gwynn Jones in the National Library of Wales
Born	Thomas Jones 10 October 1871 Y Gwyndy Uchaf, Betws-yn-Rhos, Denbighshire, Wales
Died	7 March 1949(1949-03-07) (aged 77) Willow Lawn, Caradoc Road, Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire, Wales
Other names	Gwynvre ap Iwan
Occupation(s)	Journalist, librarian, academic and poet
Notable work	Ymadawiad Arthur
Title	Emeritus Professor of Celtic
Spouse	Margaret Jane Davies
Children	Eluned, Arthur ap Gwynn, Llywelyn
Parent(s)	Isaac Jones and Jane Roberts
Awards	National Eisteddfod Chair (1902 and 1905), D.Litt (Wales) (1937), D.Litt (Eire) (1937), C.B.E. (1937)

Professor Thomas Gwynn Jones C.B.E. (10 October 1871 – 7 March 1949), more widely known as T. Gwynn Jones, was a leading Welsh poet, scholar, literary critic, novelist, translator, and journalist who did important work in Welsh literature, Welsh education, and the study of Welsh folk tales in the first half of the twentieth century.^[1] He was also an accomplished translator into Welsh of works from English, German, Greek, and Irish.

Personal life

Thomas Jones was born at Y Gwyndy Uchaf in Betws-yn-Rhos, Denbighshire, Wales, the eldest son of Isaac Jones and Jane Roberts. He was educated in Denbigh and Abergele. In 1899 he married Margaret Jane Davies, the daughter of Thomas Davies of Denbigh, by whom he had three children.

Career

In 1890 he was a sub-editor on the Welsh-language newspaper Baner ac Amserau Cymru (Y Faner). He wrote a famous biography of the great Liberal publisher Thomas Gee, whose work influenced Jones throughout his life. After many years as a journalist, Jones worked at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, and later as a lecturer in the Welsh department at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, where he became a professor in 1919.

He won the Chair at the National Eisteddfod of Wales in Bangor in 1902 for his ode, Ymadawiad Arthur. His major academic work was an edition of the fifteenth-century poet, Tudur Aled.

A strong opponent of the First World War, Jones walked out of the Tabernacle Chapel in Aberystwyth when the minister offered a prayer for a British victory in the war. He later wrote "If there's anything I understand from the New Testament, it is that Jesus Christ is not a militaristic person. He is the Saviour of the world, he is the Prince of Peace. Therefore those who say they are Christians, followers of Christ must reject war totally."^[2]

He was awarded CBE in the 1937 Coronation Honours.^[3]

Influence

T. Gwynn Jones's writings had a significant influence on Robert Graves in his mythopoeic study The White Goddess. Graves developed his suggestion of a distinction between the restricted poetry of the official Welsh bards, and the more expansive and fanciful unofficial Welsh writings: "The tales and Romances, on the other hand, are full of colour and incident; even characterization is not absent from them. In them fancy...develops into imagination".^[4]

Published works

Novels & Short Stories

Gwedi Brad a Gofid (1898)
Brethyn Cartref (Short Stories; 1913)
Gorchest Gwilym Bevan (1899) - English translation The Great Deed of Gwilym Bevan published 2024.^[5]
John Homer (1923; original serial 1908)
Lona (1923; original serial 1908)

Poetry

Gwlad y Gân a cherddi eraill (1902)
Caniadau (1934)
Y Dwymyn (1944)
(trans.), Awen y Gwyddyl (1922) – translated Irish poetry.
(trans.), Blodau o Hen Ardd (1927) – translated Greek epigrams.
(trans.), Faust by Goethe (1922)

Academic and Other Works

Astudiaethau (1936)
Bardism and Romance (1914)
Beirniadaeth a Myfyrdod (1935)
Brithgofion (1944)
Cofiant Thomas Gee (1913)
Cymeriadau (1933)
Dyddgwaith (1937)
Eglwys y Dyn Tlawd (1892)
Emrys ap Iwan. Cofiant (1912)
(ed.) Gwaith Tudur Aled, 2 vols., (1926)
Llenyddiaeth Y Cymry (1915)
Rhieingerddi'r Gogynfeirdd (1915)
(trans.) Visions of the Sleeping Bard (1940)
Welsh Folklore and Welsh Folk-custom (1930)^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b Gwyndaf, Robin (1981), "A Classic of Welsh Folklore Reissued", Folklore, 92 (2): 190–195, doi:10.1080/0015587x.1981.9716205, JSTOR 1259472
^ Shipton, Martin (30 December 2014), "The First World War, pacifism, and the cracks in Wales' Nonconformism movement", WalesOnline, retrieved 9 December 2019
^ "No. 34396". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 May 1937. p. 3089.
^ Quoted in Graves, Robert (1997), The White Goddess, Manchester, pp. 14–15{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ www.melinbapur.cymru The Great Deed of Gwilym Bevan

External links

Works by Thomas Gwynn Jones at Faded Page (Canada)
Welsh Biography Online – JONES, THOMAS GWYNN (1871–1949), poet, writer, translator and scholar
Description of the T. Gwynn Jones and Arthur ap Gwynn Papers