Gwlad Beirdd: Niclas y Glais Gwlad Beirdd

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-"Arise, you oppressed of the earth

-"The starving throng is rising

-"The truth of the new life comes

-"To vanquish the mist of ages past."

-As a socialist, I hold a belief

-about the country's resources.

-The land and the factories

-should be for its people.

-All should be

-at the nation's service.

-The poet Thomas Evan Nicholas

-only lived here for ten years.

-He had come to the Swansea Valley

-to be a minister in Glais.

-Even so, he is still referred to

-as Niclas y Glais.

-He had been a minister

-in Llandeilo for a year or so.

-After that, he moved

-to the USA for two years.

-Then, one day, at Crymych fair...

-..his father happened to meet

-a deacon from Seion chapel, Glais.

-There, a plan was hatched

-to secure his return to Wales.

-The world is greater than Wales

-The 1904 Revival

-had reached its zenith.

-Religious fervour

-was transforming individuals.

-But Niclas y Glais

-wanted to change the system.

-He opposed the unfairness

-of the capitalist system.

-Let there be Capital!

-And there was blood and tears

-And steel bombs fell

-on town and country

-When we recite the Lord's Prayer,

-we say "thy Kingdom come".

-We pray not for a church's success,

-a small branch here and there.

-We pray

-for the advent of the Kingdom.

-All land, riches, money,

-education, health and everything...

-..ought to be at the service

-of the Christian ideal.

-His parents

-were Dafydd and Bet Nicholas...

-..of Pentregalar in Pembrokeshire.

-He recalls the owner

-calling at their home, Y Llety...

-..to collect the rent.

-It wasn't as much this that aroused

-his anti-establishment hostility...

-..as much as his experience

-at Hermon school.

-The education authorities

-were so disparaging...

-..towards the pupils

-and the language.

-He explains his feelings.

-"That is why

-I have hated the whole system...

-"..so passionately all my life."

-Nicholas had in him something

-of his mother and his father.

-His father

-was a gentle, thoughtful man.

-TE Nicholas's mother, Bet...

-..was a stronger personality,

-and braver.

-There was a combination

-of the gentle and the strong.

-Before the ministry,

-his first job, at the age of 13...

-..was as a messenger

-at the Swan Inn, Eglwys Wen.

-He recalls travelling by cart...

-..from the inn up to Crymych.

-He would recite an ode by Islwyn,

-Y Nefoedd, on the way there.

-He would recite Eben Fardd's ode

-Dinystr Jerusalem on the way back.

-The innkeeper complained

-that he took too long.

-However, in a short time,

-he knew both odes off by heart.

-He much preferred the poetic system

-to the political system.

-The sunbeams came to me

-over the Frenni

-Even though

-he had memorized these odes...

-..he had little praise

-for the poets who were in vogue.

-He considered their work

-to be too highbrow.

-He called it "giraffe food".

-Nonetheless,

-he could emulate the style.

-He won nearly 50 chairs in all.

-However, this didn't represent

-his most heartfelt poetry.

-It's his own more direct poetry

-that wins that accolade.

-We see it in such anthologies

-as Salmau'r Werin...

-..Cerddi Gwerin and Cerddi Rhyddid.

-"Many a quiet hour I spent

-"After the toil of a long day

-"Many a song I sang so freely

-"To republics, along the way.

-"I sang not for a chair of oak

-"Nor for a silver or golden wall

-"I sang - and not for profit

-"For the people - that is all.

-"There is rebellion in my breast

-"And revolution in my blood

-"My muse can only sing the story

-"Of the wretches underfoot.

-"Others seek to be lawmakers

-"To raise the weak from worldly fall

-"I'll sing loudly in the battles

-"For the people - that is all.

-For the people - that is all

-"The preachers and the priests

-"They curse me silently

-"The brothers aim to save the souls

-"Of worldly sinners so ungodly.

-"On human rights I place importance

-"The rights of workers to stand tall

-"I'll sing beneath

-the profane rituals

-"For the people - that is all."

-Niclas talks of the importance

-of simplicity in poetry.

-The common man must understand it.

-A prominent regular feature

-is his challenging attitude.

-We must admire him for it.

-His messages are so consistent.

-He is also so clear,

-and he is what he is.

-He is the true poet of the people.

-I recall asking this of Niclas.

-How was he so eloquent

-when standing before an audience?

-The answer he gave me was this.

-"If it's worth saying,

-the words will come to you".

-The rights of workers to stand tall

-Life is beautiful -

-not its decorations

-In a way, these volumes

-amount to a kind of manifesto.

-They appear when he joins the ILP,

-the Independent Labour Party.

-This is when he became close friends

-with the MP, Keir Hardie.

-As well as being a minister,

-he also edited the Welsh column...

-..in the radical newspaper,

-The Merthyr Pioneer.

-But his ten years

-in the valley are nearly over.

-The next step for Niclas

-is a return to rural Wales.

-"Sometimes a song comes

-as mellow as wine drops

-"To sing hope

-amid the dry branches."

-TE Nicholas had a hard time

-when the First World War broke out.

-He was a pacifist

-and a conscientious objector.

-In 1914, he moved

-to become a minister...

-..in Llanddewibrefi

-and Llangybi in Cardiganshire.

-There was a fierce reaction

-to his anti-war sermons.

-Certainly, that led to conflict

-with many of the deacons...

-..and other prominent chapelgoers.

-His writings angered those

-who backed the war.

-Some newspapers and journals...

-..refused to publish his work

-and his letters.

-His pacifist poems

-were utterly forthright.

-They rejected any heroic,

-romantic connotations of warfare.

-Blood! Blood! Blood!

-And a myriad of brothers fallen

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-TE Nicholas was both a socialist

-and a pacifist.

-The two things

-didn't always go hand in hand.

-In 1918, he stood

-as a parliamentary candidate...

-..for the Independent Labour Party

-in Aberdare.

-He was asked if he would

-willingly shake hands with a German.

-What was the response

-from Niclas y Glais?

-"Why not?"

-This didn't please everybody.

-His pacifism and his humanity...

-..were far too radical

-for some people.

-We hear of him on many occasions

-being persecuted and threatened.

-His car was set on fire, and so on.

-He lost that election, undoubtedly.

-However, as time progressed,

-and over the next two years...

-..he felt that the Labour Party

-wasn't the answer.

-It would not implement

-his cherished socialist principles.

-He wasn't the only radical

-in the family.

-My grandfather

-was a very staunch pacifist.

-He also supported the ILP.

-During the First War...

-..Niclas led the Cardiganshire

-"No Conscription Fellowship".

-My grandmother's brother,

-Ben Jones of Aber-cuch...

-..led it in Pembrokeshire.

-Of course, Niclas y Glais

-was a prophet in his pacifism.

-People gradually came to see

-that his portrayal of war...

-..was fairly close to the mark.

-But, by now, he felt compelled

-to give up the ministry.

-He changed direction completely

-and became a dentist.

-I considered the work I'd done,

-and my speeches over the years.

-My wishes included

-getting rid of the slums...

-..and building affordable homes

-for the workers.

-It was the same work in a sense.

-I was extracting and replacing

-rotten, unhealthy teeth.

-There is no conflict at all

-between dentistry and my politics...

-..and the new world

-of which I dream.

-He describes himself giving

-dental treatments on a Saturday.

-He then treats the saintly souls,

-his patients, on a Sunday.

-It's not the Creed

-but little daily things

-That are life's foundations

-and the pinnacles of faith

-His son, Islwyn, also now worked

-in their little dental practice.

-At the end of the dentist's day,

-the evening's political work began.

-Campaigning, lecturing,

-and supporting trade unions.

-He backed the farmers,

-the miners and the quarrymen.

-The Russian Revolution

-had inspired Niclas y Glais.

-Lenin was his big hero.

-Niclas saw himself as part of

-an international, global movement.

-He drew great strength from this.

-He wanted a change in the system,

-and wished to see justice.

-He looks towards Russia,

-and then towards China.

-It was this idealism

-that kept him going.

-I believe that, latterly, he became

-more supportive of China and Cuba.

-He took a keen interest

-in the changes in China.

-In faraway Cuba,

-soldiers of hell and the yank

-In little Wales,

-Hitler, his legion and tank.

-You must admire him

-for sticking to his beliefs.

-The authorities

-were fuming with him.

-They sent the police into chapels

-to hear him preach.

-No wonder

-when he writes lines like these.

-Righteousness is in vain

-As is the song of Calvary

-While Rhondda's hills are red

-With my brothers' innocent blood!

-They eventually found an excuse

-to imprison him.

-He and his son Islwyn

-were both accused of being fascists.

-The evidence

-was merely a set of flags...

-..of the kind

-which newspapers distributed...

-..to chart armies' progress

-on a map of Europe.

-They found a set in his house.

-It was a sufficient excuse

-to take him in, and to imprison him.

-Niclas y Glais and his son Islwyn

-were imprisoned in Swansea.

-He was allocated the number 2740

-and put in the "aliens" category.

-A Welshman in Wales,

-classed as a foreigner.

-He was then sent to Brixton.

-He was there during the Blitz.

-He was amazed when the guards

-ran for cover as the bombs fell...

-..while the prisoners

-were ordered to stay put.

-Niclas y Glais was too busy

-to add real polish to his poetry...

-..until he found himself in prison.

-Here, he perfected

-the art of the sonnet.

-The length of the sonnet

-was a factor.

-It consists of 14 lines.

-It fitted neatly

-onto a sheet of toilet paper.

-It was an easy task for academics

-who wished to organize his work.

-That's because the colour

-of Brixton's toilet paper...

-..was different to Swansea's.

-His sonnets

-and later works were praised.

-It was considered

-to be very fine poetry indeed.

-It was more sensitive,

-and quieter in many ways.

-But he stuck to the same themes.

-He continued to challenge.

-"You, my friend, took the easy paths

-"In a world

-of great skills and sweet sails

-"And gave to shallow,

-flexible consciences

-"The broad promise

-of a heaven beyond the stars.

-"You were placed, friend,

-in the principal seats

-"And praised

-for your success in the world

-"There was no shortage

-of flattery or empty words

-"As you went flying higher, higher.

-"I descended

-into the poverty of the people

-"Into the depth and tragedy

-of blood and treachery

-"And turned my back

-from the western sunset

-"To the golden east,

-the well of the country's hopes.

-"My body was captured, it's true

-"In the nets of fate

-"Your soul is in prison too,

-brother."

-Gwenallt said this of TE Nicholas.

-"Moscow owns the ideas...

-"..Crymych owns the senses."

-But chief bard

-James Nicholas says this.

-"In truth, the senses and the ideas

-belonged to Crymych and to Wales."

-The seeds of the rebel within him

-were sown there in his youth.

-Everyone worked together

-in Pembrokeshire...

-..especially at harvest time.

-It was easy for me

-to grasp the Russian order...

-..with its collective farms.

-I formed an idea

-at that time, as a child...

-..that it was a glorious thing

-for men to work together...

-..in order to gather the harvest.

-I hoped to extend the principle.

-My cottage of longing

-amid reeds and heather

-Laughter aplenty and nothing false.

-He certainly influenced me

-in many ways.

-He said that there was no clash...

-..between nationalism

-and internationalism.

-He also taught me

-to look behind the headlines...

-..to see what goes on in the world.

-Niclas is a visionary.

-He stays true to his vision

-throughout his life.

-Capitalism will fail.

-The common people will prevail.

-That the principles

-of peace and justice...

-..are integral to human good...

-..and people's love

-towards each other.

-I'd like to live to see one thing.

-To see, say, half a dozen

-socialist Welsh MPs...

-..to retrieve the power

-of the British parliament...

-..from those American gangsters.

-Religion should lead the way

-in this regard.

-The Cross is not an anchor.

-It is a flag

-to lead the world onwards...

-..from its difficulties

-to a better freedom.

-TE Nicholas was convinced

-that things could be improved.

-He could also visualize

-a role for Wales to play.

-Its people could fight

-an international battle for justice.

-Without doubt, the life and work

-of Niclas y Glais prove...

-..that you can love your parish,

-your nation and the world.

-"For me once,

-Wales was greater than the world

-"I knew nothing at that time

-of the vastness of the globe

-"It was by my love for her

-that I measured fair Wales

-"She had been created,

-or so I thought

-"In a manner

-akin to my father's garden.

-"I thought that heaven

-and its lovely blue curtains

-"Leaned on the tall shoulders

-of the hills of this bardic land

-"And I believed as a child

-"That dear Wales was the owner

-"Of the refined,

-seven-coloured rainbows

-"Bow-like above my head.

-"Things have changed today

-"I love the whole wide world

-"But there's no less a place

-for my homeland in my heart.

-"The world is greater than Wales

-"I realize that by now

-"And I'm glad that dear old Wales

-"Is part of the greater whole."

-S4C Subtitles by Adnod Cyf.

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