Waldo Williams

Waldo (Goronwy) Williams (30 September 1904 – 20 May 1971) was one of the leading Welsh-language poets of the twentieth century. He was also a notable pacifist, anti-war campaigner and Welsh nationalist.

Poetry

Williams's poetry shows many influences from William Wordsworth and Walt Whitman to Welsh hymns and the strict alliterative metres of traditional Welsh poetry, known as cynghanedd.

Related Topics:
William Wordsworth - Walt Whitman - Hymns - Cynghanedd

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Williams belongs, first of all, to the Welsh tradition of the bardd gwlad (=folk poet), a poet who served his locality by celebrating its life and people in verse.

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But he was also a poet inspired by the mystic revelation he had as a youth about the unity of the whole of humankind. This revelation was realised in the cooperative and harmonious living he witnessed amongst the farming communities in the Preseli Hills and reflected in feelings of belonging, knowing, and a desire that people should live together in peace – constant themes in his poetry. It inspired some of his greatest poetry, including Mewn dau gae (=In two fields) (1956), perhaps his greatest poem of all, which celebrates the very moment of this revelation.

Related Topics:
Mystic - Preseli Hills

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Other well-known poems by Williams include Cofio (=Remembering) (before 1936), Y tangnefeddwyr (=The peacemakers) (1941}, Preseli (1946), and Pa beth yw dyn? (=What is it to be human?) (1952).

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