GWILI’S PRIZE POEM
WAS SUNG AT AMMANFORD V.T.C. CONCERT.
Some months ago a prize of £5 was offered for the best rendering in verse of Brigadier-General Owen Thomas’ appeal to the young men of Wales. Professor J. Morris Jones, of the University College of North Wales, the eminent Welsh poet, was appointed adjudicator, and his adjudication declares the winner to be “Y Gwyngyll.”
The number of compositions received was 156, of which 92 are in English and 64 in Welsh.
The adjudicator placed thirty English and seven Welsh compositions in Class IV., and he describes them as hopeless attempts or pieces containing elementary errors of grammar and orthography.
In Class III. (pieces free from glaring errors of language, but without literary or poetic merit) were placed 33 English and 25 Welsh compositions.
Class II. containing “fairly good verse” consisted of fourteen English and nineteen Welsh pieces.
In Class I. (pieces of higher merit) are fifteen English and thirteen Welsh compositions.
The most meritorious of the English pieces is that of “L. M. P.,” Oxford. Of the winning composition the adjudicator says: —“ ‘Y Gwyngyll’ has written a song on ‘Captain Morgan’s March,’ and has succeeded on the whole in surmounting the difficulties of the rather awkward metre.
The style is terse –every word conveys a meaning. The author follows the line of thought of the appeal, and presents it enriched and deepened. This is the poem of highest literary merit in the competition, and the prize is awarded to its author, ‘Y Gwyngyll.’”
The winning poem: —
WYR IEUAINC CYMRU!
(Alaw – “Rhyfelgyrch Capten Morgan”)
Wŷr ieuainc Cymru! Clywch yr alwad gref!
Corn y gâd sydd heddyw’n alwad nef.
Geilw’ch Cadfridog, geilw’n iaith ei wlad,
Geilw’ch dewr gymrodyr draw o’r gâd.
Cydan:
Fechgyn Cymru, wele death “y Dydd”!
Ewch dan faner Cymru dros Ewrop rydd.
Clywch ar y bryniau alwad megis cynt!
Llef fel llef Llywelyn gwyd y gwynt.
Ar arch eich Owen, codwch fel un gwr;
Oni chlyweh drwy’r glynoedd waded Clyn Dwr!
Fechgyn Cymru, &c.
Draw dros y culfor, gwelwch Felgium brudd,
Treth y gelyn trythyll arni sydd;
Rhag cyfodi o Bryndain lef a hyllt y nen,
Brwydrwch dros y wyryf Ynys Wen.
Fechgyn Cymru, &c.
Cerddodd myrddiynau gwirfodd dros eu gwlad;
Utgorn aur eu rhyddid oedd corn cad.
Feibion gwroniaid pob anfarwol fri,
Ai yn nydd y gorfod y cerddwch chwi?
Fechgyn Cymru, &c.
Hil aberth oesoedd! Dros y breintiau mawr!
Aberth sydd I chwithau – wele’ch awr!
Clwych alwad Rhyddid a chyfiawnder glân,
Parod f’och I’ch pu-o’n awr trwy dân!
Fechgyn cymru, &c.
Feibion yr henwlad fechan ddewr a fu
Dan lif cyflafan, ddyddiau lu!
Dydd cad cenhedloedd bychain Ewrop yw!
Clyweb alwad Belgium –Serfia – Duw!
Fechgyn Cymru, &c.
Gwedi cadw gwiwdeb Cymru, cyn y gâd,
Ewch dan faner purdeb glwys eich gwlad;
Rhoddwch i ormes anllad farwol glwy,
Fel na welo Ewrop ryfel mwy.
Fechgyn Cymru, wele death “y Dydd”!
Ewch dan faner Cymru dros Ewrop rydd.
Y GWYNGYLL.
The successful writer is no other than the Rev. John Jenkins, M. A., “Gwili,” of Ammanford, who wrote it on the night of December 16th, but did not expect it to gain the prize.
It was sung by Mr. Tom Williams at the Ammanford Cymrodorion meeting on December 31st, and again at the Ammanford V. T. C. “social” on January 6th.
