Gwlad Beirdd: Ceiriog Gwlad Beirdd

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-The son of the Mountain am I

-Away from home, composing a song

-How often have you heard pieces

-like these being sung or recited?

-"Nant y mynydd groyw loyw"

-or "Mab y Mynydd ydwyf innau".

-Or "Aros mae'r mynyddau mawr".

-No idea!

-I know they're as popular today...

-..as they were 150 years ago

-when they first appeared.

-Don't you think it's strange

-that so many bucolic Welsh songs...

-..were composed in Manchester's

-industrial melting pot?

-Bolton, Guide Bridge,

-Flowery Field, Newton for Hyde...

-..Godley, Hattersley,

-Broadbottom, Dinting, Glossop.

-The famous poems

-of John Ceiriog Hughes...

-..belong to Wales,

-but in particular to rural Wales.

-On the busy streets of Manchester...

-..it was his homeland

-that inspired him.

-One verse after another

-creates an idyllic picture...

-..of nature

-and the old way of life...

-..in this area, the Ceiriog Valley.

-But my heart is in the mountain

-With the heather and the wild birds

-Ceiriog was born here,

-on Penybryn farm...

-..near Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog

-on 25 September, 1832.

-His father, Richard,

-was a respectable man.

-His mother, Phoebe, was clever.

-She was often called upon locally,

-being a skilled midwife.

-She knew about

-the healing properties of plants.

-Ceiriog was one of eight children.

-He was a real favourite

-with his mother.

-Some people maintain

-that she spoiled him so much...

-..that relations

-with his father became frosty.

-Perhaps, later on,

-when writing about leaving home...

-..that's why the mother

-is described as a widow.

-He denies his father's existence.

-the boy's widowed mother

-In spite of this coolness...

-..his father

-had bought Ceiriog a present.

-He was a pupil at this school.

-It was a book on Welsh grammar.

-His father had inadvertently

-bought the wrong grammar book.

-It had a section on cynghanedd.

-Ceiriog began to learn about,

-and master, strict metre poetry.

-Eventually,

-he came to love composing poems.

-I learnt from my father

-Ceiriog was expected to help

-his father on the farm.

-He idealized the farmer

-in his poems.

-We're familiar

-with his famous line...

-.."I learnt from my father

-the first craft of mankind"...

-..it seems, however,

-that he wasn't cut out for farming.

-He acknowledges this in an englyn.

-"Alas, I could not close - the sides

-"Of hedgerows nor earth banks

-"It grieves me that I failed to sow

-"And failed to master horses."

-Early in 1849,

-aged 17 years old...

-..he left Penybryn

-and set off for Manchester.

-"John is leaving for England

-"He sets off tomorrow morning

-"His widowed mother knows this well.

-"She packs his country clothes

-and folds them on the table

-"But his chest, to her mind

-"Has the appearance of a coffin.

-"He gathers together his books

-"They're put in a chest

-on the floor.

-"Happily, he contemplates

-the wonders of the large towns.

-"He sees not the silent tear

-on the sad widow's cheek

-"Nor the new little Bible

-slipped inside in the chest.

-"Early the following morning

-"With all the little ones asleep

-"By their bedsides

-John bids farewell

-"He would have liked to stay home

-"But there was nothing for him to do

-"He could have stayed too

-"If only he had dared to ask.

-"To meet the early train

-"Before daybreak he must go.

-"Farewell, my dear child!

-"Oh, be a good boy.

-"May heaven protect you,

-my true and precious son

-"Never forget your home

-"Nor your country,

-your language, your God."

-Ceiriog's mother had an ambition

-for him to become a chapel deacon.

-She held a sure belief of the way

-to attain that elevated position.

-He should open a shop

-and become a successful businessman.

-It all started quite promisingly.

-Her son worked in Oxford Street,

-Manchester, as a grocer's assistant.

-There were many Welsh people

-here at that time.

-There were many societies.

-It's possible that Ceiriog

-began to feel at home here.

-In next to no time, he was

-a prominent bard in Manchester.

-He won literary prizes galore.

-Many people would call at the shop.

-Sunday school teachers,

-in particular...

-..would buy bacon and vegetables,

-and order words for hymns!

-We put pretty and immortal things

-In the music of poetry and song

-The shop in Oxford Street

-went out of business.

-Ceiriog opened his own shop

-on the corner of Charles Street.

-In 1854, aged 22,

-he owned his own business.

-But one November evening,

-less than year after opening...

-..a visitor called at the shop.

-This man completely altered

-the course of Ceiriog's life.

-Creuddynfab was the National

-Eisteddfod's first paid secretary.

-Some people described him

-as the festival's chief scout.

-He had come to persuade Ceiriog

-to concentrate on poetry.

-That's where it all started.

-His poetry became influenced

-by the Cymreigyddion.

-It was a Welsh society.

-He began to play with an idea.

-He would become for Wales

-what Burns was for Scotland.

-He would become a specialist

-in writing lyrics...

-..to accompany popular melodies.

-Creuddynfab believed

-that working as a railway clerk...

-..would give Ceiriog

-more time to think.

-There would be

-more time to be creative.

-Ceiriog took him up

-on the suggestion.

-He sold the shop.

-What did his disappointed mother

-say to him?

-"You know what my heart says"

-were her simple words.

-Ceiriog went on to write a poem,

-using those same words of hers.

-They have stayed with us

-to this day.

-You know what my heart says

-There was another problem

-with this poetry business.

-He not only gave up the shop,

-but also began to drink heavily.

-The literary circles

-shied away from the chapels.

-Their meeting venues of choice

-were hotels and not vestries.

-The mother's dream of her son

-becoming a deacon disappeared.

-The group

-had many colourful characters.

-There was Alltud Williams...

-..ab Ithel, Idris Fychan,

-Creuddynfab himself...

-..and RJ Derfel, who wrote

-The Treachery Of The Blue Books.

-The title referred to a report

-by Her Majesty's Inspectors...

-..on the state of education

-in Wales.

-The Welsh were pilloried.

-Because of that, Ceiriog

-wished to elevate the Welsh.

-The flame was to be lit again,

-and a new Welsh culture created.

-It became a kind of obsession.

-Ceiriog was part of this new spirit.

-He wrote poems in praise of Wales.

-He praised Welsh women...

-..who had been lambasted

-by the parliamentary report.

-Ceiriog created

-the ideal Welsh woman.

-He named her Myfanwy Fychan.

-He wrote of her in this way.

-"Fair Myfanwy Fychan

-"Will be a rhyme forever

-"In the breath of the bard."

-At his best, he is truly excellent.

-He had this lyrical gift.

-Some of that is found

-in Myfanwy Fychan.

-"Oh, were I a breeze in the wind

-"Roaming the garden of Dinas Bran

-"Humming in your ear on my way

-"Spinning and twirling your hair."

-Well...!

-What could be more popular

-than that?

-I treasure the memory of Wales

-After years in Manchester...

-..an opportunity arose

-to return to the land of his songs.

-He was to come back to Wales.

-In 1865, he was appointed

-stationmaster in Llanidloes.

-He wiped away

-the tears of longing...

-..and, echoing a famous line of his,

-he was homeward bound.

-"As I was homeward bound one day

-"I heard a cheery cuckoo sing

-"It had crossed the oceans

-to reach this little isle

-"It was the first cuckoo

-of the season, singing in the trees

-"Just like that very first one

-to have sung the cuckoo's song.

-"I turned back at that moment

-to search the greenwood tree

-"To look through the branches

-"To seek out the gentle bird.

-"I walked on until I returned

-"To stand beneath my birch

-"And there it was, the cuckoo

-"Singing above my head.

-"Oh, cuckoo, I do thank thee

-"That here is where we meet

-"I dried the tear from my eye

-"And the cuckoo flew away."

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-Thoughts and feelings

-form the poet's kingdom

-Sound and sweetness

-form the musician's kingdom

-Ceiriog Memorial Hall

-By the time

-Ceiriog returned to Wales...

-..he had perfected the skill

-of writing simple, moving songs.

-The kind of poems he wrote

-could be set perfectly to music.

-He published five volumes of poetry.

-Each one sold up to 30,000 copies.

-The eisteddfodic concert

-was becoming increasingly popular.

-Wales needed more lyrics and songs.

-Some have asked a question.

-Was the eisteddfod responsible

-for Ceiriog's success...

-..or was Ceiriog the reason

-for the eisteddfod's success?

-In the 19th century,

-the emphasis shifted...

-..away from the literary

-and towards the musical.

-The concerts and the eisteddfod,

-in particular...

-..were becoming places

-that would swallow up songs.

-There weren't enough of them.

-That's what Ceiriog spotted,

-very, very clearly.

-His simplicity is his glory, I feel.

-We continue to sing his songs

-to this day.

-Male voice choirs sing his songs.

-The common people in Wales

-in this era were not very literate.

-The standard of education

-in Wales at the time was very low.

-Much more so

-than his contemporaries...

-..he adopted the idea

-of teaching the people.

-He spoke in comprehensible language.

-At the Aberdare National Eisteddfod,

-his pastoral poem was victorious.

-He wrote a cycle of poems.

-It was the stormy tale

-of a farmer, Alun Mabon.

-It described his romance with Menna,

-their marriage...

-..and ultimately, his death.

-This cycle includes

-a host of well-known poems.

-"Nant Y Mynydd",

-"Mi Geisiaf Eto Ganu Can"...

-.."Os Hoffech Wybod Sut Mae Dyn

-Fel Fi Yn Byw"...

-..and the closing poem,

-"Aros Mae'r Mynyddau Mawr".

-He belonged in spirit

-to the 18th century.

-If anything traditional beckoned...

-..he would embrace it.

-His feet were there, you see.

-But his head

-was firmly in the 19th century.

-His work was to respond

-to the fashion and trend of the age.

-The eisteddfod, the concerts,

-the evenings of entertainment.

-All events of this kind...

-..would be held

-in the Welsh language.

-All of Wales is a sea of song

-Ceiriog was unique in one sense.

-He actively promoted

-the idealized ordinary Welshman.

-But he was a Briton.

-It was he who wrote these words...

-.."It is I who cares for the baby

-"It is I who rocks the cradle."

-It was a lullaby he composed...

-..for Albert Edward,

-the son of Queen Victoria.

-He was the English Prince of Wales.

-He says in the poem

-that he would like the baby...

-..to have the language

-of the Welsh kings on his lips.

-But, according to

-Professor Hywel Teifi Edwards...

-..Ceiriog's children

-didn't speak Welsh.

-This was surely

-a bitter blow to the bard.

-I know he was an imperialist.

-Who wasn't in that period?

-But he saw a chance for Wales...

-..to make a contribution

-to the world through the Empire.

-In reading Ceiriog...

-..and appreciating Ceiriog...

-..one cannot fail

-to see his utter dedication.

-He was committed

-to his language and his Welshness.

-We must view Ceiriog

-as a man of his time.

-Our concept of Welsh nationalism

-didn't exist at that time.

-His love is for the Welsh people.

-He wants to lift them up

-to play an all-important part...

-..in this huge British leviathan,

-a worldwide phenomenon of that era.

-But the task of elevating Wales

-became too much for him.

-What lies above?

-A black despair!

-His return to Wales

-prompted a realization on his part.

-It wasn't his Utopia after all.

-He began to yearn for Manchester.

-His drink problem had set in

-before he left the city.

-By the time he reached Wales...

-..poverty became a further problem.

-Even so, on his deathbed,

-Ceiriog was confident of one thing.

-His country loved him.

-He told his wife,

-"My country will take care of you".

-Indeed, she received 50 a year

-as a pension.

-The Civil List paid it,

-after Ceiriog's death.

-He had died at the age of 55.

-The englyn that he wrote

-as his epitaph...

-..suggests disillusion

-with his own poetic message.

-He loved musical words and bards

-He loved to live naturally

-He loved music with passion.

-Here are his ashes - and no messing.

-But succeeding generations

-didn't see it that way.

-OM Edwards said that Ceiriog

-had done more for Welsh poetry...

-..than all the cywydd

-and cynghanedd writers put together.

-The appeal of his work...

-..like the mountains

-about which he wrote so much...

-..has stood the test of time.

-"The great mountains still stand

-"The wind roars over them

-"As dawn breaks, again is heard

-"The song of shepherds as before.

-"Daisies grow once more

-"Around the base

-of the rock and the hill

-"But there are new shepherds

-"On these old mountains."

-But there are new shepherds

-On these old mountains

-There was no one in his era

-who matched his popularity.

-The songs were the reason.

-They held an instant appeal

-for the bulk of Welsh speakers.

-He knew the Welsh speakers well.

-He knew his audience.

-He knew what they wanted.

-He was a great one

-for meeting their needs.

-# But the old language

-# Remains in the land

-# And the ancient melodies

-# Live on #

-S4C Subtitles by Adnod Cyf.

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