#hedd wyn

[aescheretalks]

Nid oes gennym hawl ar ddim byd,

Ond ar yr hen ddaear wyw;

A honno sy'n anhrefn i gyd

Yng nghanol gogoniant Duw

We have no claim on anything save

This old earth's withered façade,

And the things that come apart in chaos

Amid the glory of God.

[thesecretsocietyofafailedyouth]

Rhyfel

Gwae fi fy myw mewn oes mor ddreng,

A Duw ar drai ar orwel pell;

O’i ôl mae dyn, yn deyrn a gwreng,

Yn codi ei awdurdod hell.

Pan deimlodd fyned ymaith Dduw

Cyfododd gledd i ladd ei frawd;

Mae sŵn yr ymladd ar ein clyw,

A’i gysgod ar fythynnod tlawd.

Mae’r hen delynau genid gynt,

Ynghrog ar gangau’r helyg draw,

A gwaedd y bechgyn lond y gwynt,

A’u gwaed yn gymysg efo’r glaw.

~ Hedd Wyn (1918)

[breuddwydcymraeg]

Rhyfel gan Hedd Wyn

“Gwae fi fy myw mewn oes mor ddreng,

A Duw ar drai ar orwel pell;

O'i ôl mae dyn, yn deyrn a gwreng,

Yn codi ei awdurdod hell.

Pan deimlodd fyned ymaith Dduw

Cyfododd gledd i ladd ei frawd;

Mae sŵn yr ymladd ar ein clyw,

A'i gysgod ar fythynnod tlawd.

Mae'r hen delynau genid gynt

Yng nghrog ar gangau'r helyg draw,

A gwaedd y bechgyn lond y gwynt,

A'u gwaed yn gymyg efo'r glaw.”

Translation:

“Alas, this is an age so mean

That everyman is made a Lord,

For all authority's absurd

When God himself fades from the scene.

As quick as God is shown the door

Out come the cannons and the sword:

Hate on hate on brother poured

And scored the deepest on the poor.

The harps that once could help our pain

Hang silent, to the willows pinned.

The cry of battle fills the wind

And blood of lads--it falls like rain.”

Original- Hedd Wyn, Poetic Translation- Louis Flint Ceci

[hypable]

5 awesome movies set in Wales to watch this St. David's Day

We've already celebrated some of our favorite Welsh actors here on Hypable. Now, we're sharing five awesome movies set in Wales in honor of St. David's Day.

[breuddwydcymraeg]

Yr Ysgwrn, Tŷ Hedd Wyn, Trawsfynydd, 2016.

A part of the house and farm of the famous Welsh poet Ellis Humphrey Evans, more commonly known by his bardic name Hedd Wyn.

He was killed on the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele during World War I. Hedd Wyn was posthumously awarded the bard's chair at the 1917 National Eisteddfod, one of the highest honours a bard can recieve in Wales.

[theoscarsproject]

Hedd Wyn (1992). A young poet living in the North Wales countryside competes for the most coveted prize of all in Welsh Poetry - that of the chair of the National Eisteddfod, a tradition dating back a hundred years. Before the winner is announced Hedd Wyn gets sent to fight with the English in the trenches of the First World War

While I'd heard the name Hedd Wyn before watching this film, I knew little about the Welsh poet and his legacy as an anti-war artist, and this film served as a beautiful introduction! Well acted with a poetic lilt to its dialogue and some sumptuous cinematography, it's both a solid bio pic and a portrait of an artist. Unfortunately, it did drag in parts and the supporting players never quite came into their own, but still a solid film. 7/10.

[illustrate-her]

Rhyfel - gan Hedd Wyn (Ellis Humphrey Evans)

Gwae fi fy myw mewn oes mor ddreng,

A Duw ar drai ar orwel pell;

O'i ôl mae dyn, yn deyrn a gwreng,

Yn codi ei awdurdod hell.

Pan deimlodd fyned ymaith Dduw

Cyfododd gledd i ladd ei frawd;

Mae swn yr ymladd ar ein clyw,

A'i gysgod ar fythynnod tlawd.

Mae'r hen delynau genid gynt,

Ynghrog ar gangau'r helyg draw,

A gwaedd y bechgyn lond y gwynt,

A'u gwaed yn gymysg efo'r glaw.

*

(English translation by Gillian Clark, from here)

War

Bitter to live in times like these.

While God declines beyond the seas;

Instead, man, king or peasantry,

Raises his gross authority.

When he thinks God has gone away

Man takes up his sword to slay

His brother; we can hear death's roar.

It shadows the hovels of the poor.

Like the old songs they left behind,

We hung our harps in the willows again.

Ballads of boys blow on the wind,

Their blood is mingled with the rain.

[mariocki]

Sand portrait of Hedd Wyn (Ellis Humphrey Evans, 1887 - 1917) on the beach at Colwyn Bay today.

From the ITV site:

"The faces of more than 30 British service people who died during World War One have been etched into the sand at a number of beaches to commemorate the centenary of the Armistice.

The portraits, part of filmmaker Danny Boyle’s UK-wide 'Pages of the Sea' project, were drawn into the sand and then washed away by the tide."

(https://www.itv.com/news/2018-11-11/armistice-day-sand-portraits-drawn-on-beaches-across-uk/)