#ellis evans

[ocies-sideblog]

I've read and listened to these fucking books more times than I care to admit but the line in the Nightmare before Kissmas that for some reason has me rolling on the floor every time is "Santa, but make it Versace"

[mariocki]

Hedd Wynn (Ellis Humphrey Evans) 13.1.1887 - 31.7.1917

The Welsh poet, killed on the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele and recipient of the ‘Black Chair’ at the 1917 Eisteddfod. Hedd Wynn was his bardic name, meaning blessed or sacred peace; Ellis lived on the family farm in Trawsfynydd and spent his days working the land, writing by night. A socialist and a pacifist, he initially refused to enlist in the army - but when conscription was introduced, only one man of military age could be spared to help run the farm. Ellis enlisted to spare his younger brother, Robert.

Ellis had won several chairs at local Eisteddfodau, but always hoped to win a national award. He completed his final poem, Yr Arwr, in Fléchin, France and submitted it to the 1917 Eisteddfod via Royal Mail. He did not live to know he had won.

At the Eisteddfod, trumpets sounded for the author of the winning poem to present themselves and take their chair. After sounding three times, the Archdruid stepped forward and announced that Hedd Wynn had fallen in battle - the empty chair was draped in a black cloth.

A committee was formed in Trawsfynydd to safeguard Ellis’ legacy and preserve his manuscripts. In 1923 a bronze statue was unveiled in the centre of the village. Tellingly, it depicts Ellis not as a soldier or writer, but as a shepherd.

[quotesforlater]

Nid oes gennym hawl ar y ser, Na'r lleuad hiraethus chwaith, Na'r cwmwl o aur a ymylch Yng nghanol y glesni maith. Nid oes gennym hawl ar ddim byd, Ond ar yr hen ddaear wyw; A honno sy'n anhrefn i gyd Yng nghanol gogoniant Duw

Y Blotyn Du - Hedd Wyn

[men-marched-asleep-blog]

The Black Spot

We have no right to the stars, Nor the homesick moon, Nor the clouds edged with gold In the centre of the long blueness.

We have no right to anything But the old and withered earth That is all in chaos At the centre of God's glory.

--Hedd Wyn (translated by Jim Finnis)

Hedd Wyn (born Ellis Evans) was killed at the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917.