Goronwy Owen

Goronwy Owen (born Jan. 1, 1723, Llanfair Mathafarn Eithaf, Anglesey, Wales—died July 1769, Brunswick, Va. [U.S.]) was a clergyman and poet who revived the bardic tradition in 18th-century Welsh literature. He breathed new life into two moribund bardic meters, cywydd and the awdl, using them as vehicles for the expression of classic ideals rather than in praise of patrons.

Owen was taught an appreciation of medieval Welsh poetry from his youth. He studied briefly to be a priest and then taught school for some years. While serving as master of the local school and curate of Uppington, Owen began to attract attention as a poet. Other poets gathered around him, and, influenced by Owen’s vision (his letters are a foundation stone of Welsh literary criticism), they formed a neoclassical school of poetry whose influence lasted until the 20th century. In 1757 Owen obtained an appointment, through the efforts of friends, as headmaster of the grammar school attached to the College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, Va. After losing this mastership (for excessive drinking and “riotous living”), he became a planter and the minister of St. Andrew’s, Brunswick county, where he remained until he died.

Owen’s best-known poems were written before his departure for America; among them are “Cywydd y Farn Fawr” (“Cywydd of the Great Judgment”), “Cywydd y Gem neu’r Maen Gwerthfawr” (“Cywydd of the Gem or the Precious Stone”), and “Cywydd yn ateb Huw’r Bardd Coch o Fôn” (“Cywydd in Answer to Huw the Red Poet [Hugh Hughes]”).

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