• Source: William Thomas (Islwyn)

      • William Thomas, bardic name Islwyn (3 April 1832 – 20 November 1878), was a Welsh language poet and Christian clergyman. His best known poem is entitled Yr Ystorm ['The Storm'], and was written in response to the sudden death of his young fiancée.Graves (1917: 94) called him 'the Welsh Wordsworth' and Roderick (1981) described him as 'Monmouthshire's main and most important contributor to Welsh literature.'


      Early life



      William Thomas was born at Tŷ'r Agent near Ynysddu on 3 April 1832 to Morgan Thomas and Mary Jones. Walters (1983) documented that his father was an agent to the Llanarth family, which became connected to the Llanover family. Morgan (2007) documented that his father was the mineral agent of the Llanover Estate.
      Thomas' father was probably a Welsh speaker. However, his mother was probably an English-speaker and he was educated entirely in English. His fluency and love of the Welsh language came from the minister of their local Calvinist Methodist chapel, Rev Daniel Jenkyns, who married his sister Mary and who the young poet greatly admired.
      Thomas received expensive private schooling in Newport, Tredegar and Cowbridge, and finally education at a well-known college in Swansea (the Swansea Normal College). Jenkyns encouraged him towards ordination in the church. However, his encouragement annoyed his father, who instead hoped that William would follow his brothers into the financially rewarding career of mining engineering.


      Later life


      While in Swansea, Thomas became engaged to Ann Bowen. She died in 1853, at the young age of twenty, which became a source of poetic inspiration to him. At the suggestion of Lady Llanover, he took his bardic name from Mynyddislwyn, the mountain above his home. Subsequently he was a regular winner of local Eisteddfod prizes from the 1850s onwards.
      The best-known poem of Thomas is entitled "Y Storm" ("The Storm"), a long philosophical poem over 9,000 lines long. His poems are noted for their confident expressions of Christian faith, expectation of reunion in heaven, fulfilment of Christian duty and completion of a life fulfilled in God's work. He began preaching in 1854. And he was ordained a Calvinistic Methodist minister in 1859. However, he never took charge of a chapel as was the custom with the Calvinist Methodists at the time. Daniel Jenkyns remained minister of Babell Chapel, Cwmfelinfach. But Thomas was a regular preacher there for more than 20 years while undertaking his ongoing work.
      In 1864 Thomas married Martha Davies, Ann Bowen's stepsister. He edited several periodicals, the Welsh column of the Cardiff Times, South Wales Daily News and Gwladgarwr. His poetry was not always greatly regarded in his own lifetime. However, it found favour after his death and is now thought to be amongst the finest of the nineteenth century.
      Thomas wrote twenty-nine poems in English.
      Thomas died from bronchitis in Ynysddu in 1878. He is buried in Babell Chapel, Cwmfelinfach, where there is a monolith to his memory.


      The Islwyn Memorial Society


      Harold Finch, the Member of Parliament for Bedwellty recounted in his book Memoirs of a Bedwellty MP that Edgar Phillips (bardic name Trefin), who was the Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales from 1960 until 1962, was particularly keen that Islwyn should be remembered in a tangible way. Consequently, Finch convened a meeting in November, 1967 in Blackwood to discuss the possibility. The meeting resulted in the creation of the Islwyn Memorial Society and the election of Finch as its first President. The intention of the Society was: to fix plaques at notable places associated with the poet; carry out necessary work at Babell so that it can become a cultural centre; award prizes and scholarships at local schools; and award a poetry prize at the Royal National Eisteddfod.
      Finch documented: 'The Society organises annual special services (bilingual) in honour of the poet; and has a keen secretary in Alan Chiplin.' In 1971 the Society launched an appeal for £1,000 to enable the preservation of Babell. In 1977 the Society was registered as a charity with the objects of the advancement of education including 'the provision of prizes and/or scholarships at schools conducted as charities or those maintained by the local education authorities in the County of Gwent', 'awarding a prize annually at the Royal National Eisteddfod of Wales' and 'arranging local eisteddfodau and public lectures on the work of the Welsh poet'. However the Society was removed (that is, it ceased to exist) in 2013.


      Notes




      References


      Finch, Harold (1972). Memoirs of a Bedwellty MP. Risca, Newport: The Starling Press.
      Graves, Alfred Perceval (1912). "Islwyn, William Thomas". Welsh poetry old and new in English verse. London: Longmans, Green, and Co. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
      Graves, Alfred Perceval (1917). A Celtic psaltery being mainly renderings in English verse from Irish & Welsh poetry (PDF). London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
      Gurden-Williams, Celyn (2008). Lady Llanover and the creation of a Welsh cultural utopia (PhD thesis). Cardiff University. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
      Jones, David Gwenallt (2024). "Thomas, William (Islwyn; 1832 - 1878), Calvinistic Methodist minister, and poet". In Jones, John Graham; Johnston, Dafydd (eds.). Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Aberystwyth: The National Library of Wales. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
      Mahon, G.C. (1862). Haughton, Samuel; Scott, Robert H. (eds.). The Mineral Agent's Handbook. London: Williams and Norgate. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
      Morgan, Prys (2007). "Lady Llanover (1802-1896), 'Gwenynen Gwent'". Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion. 13: 94-106. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
      Reynolds, S. Rhian, ed. (2005). A bibliography of Welsh literature in English translation. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 143-144. ISBN 0-7083-1882-7. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
      Roderick, Alan (1981). "A history of the Welsh Language in Gwent Part Two". Gwent Local History. 51 (3): 2-32. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
      Walters, Meurig (1983). Islwyn: Man of the Mountain. Llandybïe: Salesbury: The Islwyn Memorial Society.
      Williams, Hannah; Evans, Tom, eds. (1913). Islwyn's English poems. Cardiff: Educational Publishing Co.


      Works




      = In Welsh

      =
      Barddoniaeth. Caerdydd: W. Owen. 1854. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
      Caniadau gan Islwyn. Gwrecsam: Hughes a'i Fab. 1867. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
      Ymweliad y doethion a Bethlehem: Y bryddest fuddugol yn Eisteddfod Ivoraidd Llanelli, 1867. Aberdâr Aberdare: W. Lloyd. 1871. Retrieved 20 November 2024.


      = In English

      =
      Thomas, William Owen; Williams, Hannah; Evans, Tom, eds. (1913). Islwyn's English poems. Cardiff: Educational Publishing Co.


      Bibliography


      Graves, Alfred Perceval (1897). Edwards, Owen Morgan (ed.). Gwaith Barddonol Islwyn. Wrecsam: Longmans, Green, and Co. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
      Hughes, Glyn Tegai (2003). Islwyn. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 9780708317815.
      Jones, J.T., ed. (1932). Detholiad o waith Islwyn.
      Parry-Williams, T.H. (1919). "Islwyn 1832-1878". Welsh Outlook. 6 (3): 72-74. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
      T.H. Parry-Williams, Islwyn (1948)
      Walters, Meurig (1980). 'Y Storm' Gyntaf Gan Islwyn. Caerdydd: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru.
      Walters, Meurig (1983). Islwyn: Man of the Mountain. Llandybïe: Salesbury: The Islwyn Memorial Society.


      External links


      [1]
      Research notes and papers relating to Islwyn for the MA thesis of Meurig Walters and his publication of '"Y Storm" gyntaf gan Islwyn' [1960]-1980 in the Archives of Library Wales.

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