Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/500

* WELSH LANGUAGE. 424 WELSH LANGUAGE. into two main divisions — bardic poetry auu prose romance. During the ages of struggle between Saxons and Welshmen, the bards were an important class in societ}-, and a very considerable quan- tity of their poetry has been preserved. Tlieir most flourishing period extends from the time of Gruffudd ab Cynan's return from Ireland in 1080 to the death of Llewelyn ab Gruffudd. the last Prince of Wales of the British line, in 1282. Among the foremost of these Middle Welsh poets were Meilyr, Gwalchmai his son. Owain Cyveiliog and Howel ab Owain (Jwynedd (both royal princes), Einion and ileilyr (sons of Gwalch- mai). Davydd Bcnfras, Llywarch ab Llywelyn, Gruffudd ab ilaredudd. f'ynddelw. and Elidir Sais. After the reign of Llewelyn ab lorwerth in the first half of the thirteenth century, a decline began in the work of the poets. But tlie elegy on Llewelyn ab Gruffudd by Gruffudd ab yr Ynad Goch ranks with the best productions of the earlier bards. The poetry of this whole pe- riod lacks variety and broad human interest. The greater number of pieces are eulogistic ad- dresses to living princes or elegies on the dead, and they contain little sustained description and almost no narration. The metrical form is usually very conventional, and the language is often obscure. But the style has much elevation and gives expression to strong national spirit. Not infrequently, too, there is revealed a genuine feeling for the beauties of nature, as in some of the poems of Gwalchmai, or fine romantic sentiment, as in the love-poems of Howel ab Owain. To these centuries belong also .some re- ligious pieces, and certain mythol.igical poems that are very difficult of interprrtation. In some productions of the period — paiticularly in those of Howel ab Owain — there oc 'ur "Druidi- cal' passages which have led to the theory that the medieval bards had inherited in some way the philosophy of the ancient Druids, But there is no sufficient ground for this opinion. See B.VRD. In the fourteenth century literature received a new impulse, and the poetry of this revival, touched by the influence of the dawning Renais- sance, has more general and abiding interest than most of that written by the earlier bards. War-songs and elegies now give place in large measure to poems of nature and romantic love. Rhys Goch and Davydd nli Gwilym are the most conspicuous representatives of the new style. The latter, commonly known a.s the 'Cambrian Petrarch,' combines such charm of fancy and beauty of expression as to stand in the first rank of mediaeval lyric poets. The fourteenth cen- tury is sometimes called the Golden Age of Welsh poetry, .mong the bards who lived then were Rhys Goch Eryri and lolo Gnch. The later Middle Welsh poets were for the most part not e(|ual to Dadd ab Gwilym and his contem- poraries. Among the best of them were Lewis Glyn Cothi (of the fifteenth century) and Tudur Aled and Gutyn Owain (aboiit l.iOO). The prose literature of the Middle Welsh pe- riod consists chiefly of chronicles and romantic tales. The first do not differ in character from the annals of the surrounding nations. The prose romances, on the other hand, form perhaps the most interesting — as they have certainly been the moat widely known— of all Welsh writ- ings. They have been treated in a separate article on the ilcibinofjloii (q.v.). The Welsh of course possessed translations and redactions of the common stock of religious and didactic literature of the Middle Ages. Modern Welsh. Welsh literature since the sixteenth century has relativelj' less interest than in the earlier periods of its history. With the decline of the bardic institution, poetry ceased to be cultivated as of old, and the prose of the modern period has been too largely confined to theological subjects to be of much permanent interest. A few author.s, however, deserve spe- cial mention. Huw Jlorus stands out among the poets in the seventeenth century and Goronwy Owen in the eighteenth. The publication of Evans's Spcciniciis of Welsh Poetrrj in 1764 was an event of importance in the early history of the romantic movement in England and one of the first signs among Welshmen of a revival of interest in their own national antiquities. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the eisteddfod, long since neglected, was resumed once more as an imjiortant national institution, and a new enthusiasm was stinuilated among writers of both prose and verse. Specimens of the best work since the time of Huw Morus have been collected by Mr. W. Lewis Jones in his Caniadau Ci/mrii (Bangor, 1808), a kind of 'Golden Treasury' of Welsh verse. One of the first monuments of modern Welsh prose was William Jlorgan's complete translation of the Bible, published in 15SS. This version, revised in 1G20 by Bishop Parry, is still in use. In the seventeenth century the most important prose writers were Morgan Llwyd and Charles Edwards, At the beginning of the eighteenth century stands Elis Wynn, whose (jirclcdigathnu )l Brirdd Ctrsc {Visions of the Slecpiiifi Bard) is generally recognized as the greatest masterpiece nf Welsh prose since the Mahinoflion. A little later lived Theophilus Evans, whose Dri/ch ij Prif Oesoedd still ranks as a favorite Welsh classic. In the nineteenth century the principal prose writers have been David Owen ('^Brutus'), Thomas Price CCarnhuanawc'), Gweirvdd ap Rhys. Gwallter Media in. Lewis Edwards, and in quite recent years Daniel Owen, whose novels furnish the best pictures of Welsh life in the present day. Throughout the century a thriving periodical literature has been maintained, and in 1809 at least 20 newspapers and 30 magazines (secular and religious) were printed in the Welsh language. The Welsh, like all their Celtic neighbors, have been possessed of a rich and in- teresting folk-lore, but their tales are not as well preserved as those of the Gaelic peoples. .•ctive efl'orts have been made in recent years to put on recoril and save what is left of these popular traditions: and an extensive collection of material has been published bv Rhvs under the title Cr//iV /■'o//,-.;,o)T (Oxford, 1001)'. Binr.TooRAPiiY. The sources for Old Welsh have never been collected. They may be found by consulting Hiibner's fvscriiitiones liritannicB ChristidiifF (Berlin. 187fil : Z<'uss, Ornmmntinr Celtica (2d ed.. Berlin, 1871); Kuhn, Bcitriige and vii.; and Arrh<roIo<iiti Camhrensis (187.'5). The lAher l,nndarniss lias been well edited by Rhys and Evans (Oxford. 180.'?). The laws are accessible in Aneurin Owen's Anrimt l,aics and
 * «»■ rerpleicheiidn) Sprii(hf(ii:i<'lninfi, vols. iv.