Caiff Richard Wyn Jones ragor o hanes llenyddol ei fro enedigol yn y bennod hon wrth i ni drafod Goronwy Owen, bardd enwocaf Ynys Môn. Awgrymwn fod delfrydau llenyddol cylch y Morrisiaid i’w gweld ar eu mwyaf eglur ym marddoniaeth ‘Goronwy Ddu’, gan fod ei feistrolaeth ar y mesurau caeth wedi gwireddu i raddaeth health yr awydd i ailafael yn safonau’r beirdd Cymraeg canoloesol.

Ac wrth esbonio’r estheteg sy’n gyrru llawer iawn o’i waith, cynigiwn ddiffiniad o ‘Awgwstaniaeth’ (gyda golwg ar y llyfr a gyhoeddwyd gan Saunders Lewis yn 1924). Gwrthgyferbynnwn y cerddi cain a gyfansoddwyd ganddo sy’n mynegi’i hiraeth am Ynys Môn â’r ffaith na ddychwelodd i Gymru ar ôl iddo ymadael, gan yn gyntaf ddilyn gyrfa eglwysig yn Lloegr a diweddu’i oes yn America fel perchennog planhigyfa dybaco a phedwar o gaethweision. Trafodwn hefyd y dylanwad a gâi ei farddoniaeth ar fudiad eisteddfodol y ganrif ddilynol.

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Hiraeth for Anglesey: Goronwy Owen

Richard Wyn Jones receives more of his native region’s literary history in this episode as we discuss, Goronwy Owen, Anglesey’s most famous poet. We suggest that the literary ideals of the Morris circle are seen most clearly in the poetry of ‘Dark-haired Goronwy’, for his mastery of the strict metres realized to a great extent the desire to bring back the stands of the medieval Welsh bards.

And as we explain the aesthetics driving much of his work, we offer a definition of ‘Augustanism’ (with an eye to the book which Saunders Lewis published in 1924). We contrast the finely-crafted poems expressing his hiraeth or longing for Anglesey with the fact that he never returned to Wales after leaving, first to follow a career in the Church in England and ending his life in America as the owner of a tobacco plantation and four slaves. We also discuss the influence which his poetry would have on the eisteddfod movement of the following century.

Cyflwynwyd gan: Yr Athro Jerry Hunter a'r Athro Richard Wyn Jones

Cynhyrchwyd gan Richard Martin i Cwmni Mimosa Cymru

Cerddoriaeth: 'Might Have Done' gan The Molenes

Darllen Pellach/Further Reading:

- Saunders Lewis, A School of Welsh Augustans (Wrecsam, 1924)

- Branwen Jarvis, Goronwy Owen [:] Writers of Wales (Caerdydd, 1986)

- Alan Llwyd, Goronwy Ddiafael, Goronwy Ddu [:] Cofiant Goronwy Owen 1723-1769 (Llandybïe, 1997).