If the 19th century had been a century of change, then this only accelerated in the 20th. By now Welsh was for the first time a
minority language in Wales, with the 1901 census being the last to show Welsh as the language of over half the population. This decline would accelerate during the first half of the century before stabilising in the final decades. With most migration to Wales having taken place before the First World War, the continued decline during the 20th century represented
language shift within families and the low social status of Welsh. Another aspect of this cultural shift was the emergence of
Welsh writing in English as a significant tradition in its own right for the first time, which some Welsh writers perceived as either an irrelevance or a threat to their own legitimacy. Despite (or even because) of this unpromising context for the language, there is a widespread recognition that Welsh-language literature thrived during the 20th century. This can be attributed in part to a growing academic professionalism on the part of Welsh writers, in response to developments like the establishment of the
University of Wales, which began teaching university courses in
Welsh literature. Although these were initially antiquarian in focus and taught exclusively in English, this had changed by the middle of the century, with the universities effectively supplanting the role of the old Welsh societies and the
Hen Bersoniaid which had maintained Welsh scholarship in the previous two centuries. Increasing access to literature as well as
radio and the democratisation of travel enabled Welsh writers of the 20th century to tap into European literature and art in a way that few of the predecessors had been able. As the 20th century wore on, literature in Welsh was increasingly being produced in response to, or at least in the awareness of, the climate of crisis and of a changing
Welsh identity, and though this was less apparent in the first part of the century, a very significant number of major literary figures in 20th century Welsh literature (though by no means all) were directly involved to some degree with
Plaid Cymru and the campaign for
Welsh independence. Among the literary figures who were prominent in Plaid Cymru – either involved in its founding, standing as candidates, and/or occupying administrative roles within the party – were
W. J. Gruffydd (1881–1954),
D. J. Williams (1885–1970),
Prosser Rhys (1889–1967),
Kate Roberts (1891–1985),
Saunders Lewis (1893–1985),
Ambrose Bebb (1894–1955),
James Kitchener Davies (1904–1952),
Pennar Davies (1911–1996) and
Islwyn Ffowc Elis (1924–2004), among many others who were members or active to other degrees. Writers also responded in various ways to the wider political and historical developments of the period through which they were living, such as the rise of
fascism and
socialism, and the two
World Wars. Particular of note in the latter regard is the number of Welsh literary figures who served as
conscientious objectors during the
First (such as
T. H. Parry-Williams and
D. Gwenallt Jones) and particularly the
Second World War (
Euros and
Geraint Bowen,
Islwyn Ffowc Elis,
Rhydwen Williams and
Waldo Williams), though many also saw action. Whilst some of the institutions which had sustained the language in the 19th century – the chapels and the press – saw significant declines in the 20th, where Welsh-language publishing continued it was more professional than in the past. The
Eisteddfod (at least at national level) maintained its significance and in fact became more self-consciously Welsh, being seen not just as a celebration of Welsh-language culture but a bastion to protect the language itself, with a rule being passed in 1950 which brought the use of English in Eisteddfod competitions and speeches – which had previously been commonplace – to an end.
The 20th-century literary revival (1858–1920) The first years of the 20th century are frequently regarded as representing a "revival" or even a "renaissance" in Welsh poetry; (1864–1929)A fellow student of Edwards's at
Oxford was
John Morris-Jones (1864–1929). A poet in his own right in the last years of the previous century (see above) as well as a translator of
Heine and
Omar Khayyam, it is in his capacity as an academic and critic that he would become a central figure in the 20th century literary revival. After completing his studies under
John Rhys at
Oxford, Morris-Jones would become the first lecturer in Welsh at the fledgling
University of Wales and would teach many writers of the next generation. The major poets associated with the 20th-century revival – T. Gwynn Jones (1871–1949),
W. J. Gruffydd (1881–1954),
R. Williams Parry (1884–1956) and
T. H. Parry-Williams (1887–1975) – undoubtedly all individually eclipsed Morris-Jones as poets, and in fact would all ultimately move beyond Morris-Jones's rather narrow poetic conception. Nevertheless, their achievements would have been difficult or even impossible without the influence of John Morris-Jones.
The revival poets , a leading figure in the early 20th-century literary revival, c. 1930 The winning of the Chair by T. Gwynn Jones (1871–1949) in 1902 for his
awdl Ymadawiad Arthur – with Morris-Jones the lead adjudicator – was widely seen as a watershed moment in the new literary revival and at least one critical study of 20th century Welsh literature begins its field of study in 1902, not 1900 for this reason. Widely recognised as a masterpiece (in its final 1934 revision at least), the poem, which reconciled the European romantic traditions of
King Arthur with the
Mabinogion, was one of the shortest
awdlau to win the chair at the time and was later perceived to have reinvigorated
cynghanedd and the wider Eisteddfod tradition. It would cement the reputation of T. Gwynn Jones as the first major poet of the new movement. A phenomenally productive author whose bibliography has thousands of entries in a wide range of genres, he made significant contributions in the novel, short story and drama, and even
travel writing, as well as being a translator into Welsh of major European works such as
Goethe's
Faust,
Victor Hugo's
The Man Who Laughs,
Ibsen's
Ghosts and
Shakespeare's
Macbeth, and even an abridged Welsh retelling of
War and Peace. Despite all this activity, however, it was poetry that he held in the highest regard, and for which he would be best remembered. A poet of "genius", Jones remained characteristically modest about his own achievements, scuppering an attempt to put his name forward for a
Nobel Prize by refusing to accept the nomination. (1871–1954), academic and poet of the 20th-century revival. As a young man T. Gwynn Jones had been unable to accept a scholarship at
Oxford due to illness, but many of the other major figures of the revival, even if they were from
working-class backgrounds, were able to benefit from a
university education. This was something which would have been available to very few of their predecessors, representing a generational divide between the old Eisteddfod poets and the new school. By the time he left Wales to study at
Oxford, quarryman's son
W. J. Gruffydd (1871–1954) had become an acquaintance of John Morris-Jones and published his first poems in a collaboration with fellow revival poet
R. Silyn Roberts (1871–1930), whose "lyrical pryddest"
Trystan ac Esyllt won the Eisteddfod Crown in 1902, the same year as T. Gwynn Jones won the chair. Their collection,
Telynegion ('Lyrics'), which drew heavily on the example of Morris-Jones, was heralded at the time as representing a new era in Welsh poetry. Gruffydd would go on to become a major voice in the new kind of lyrical poetry which the revival pursued; in contrast with T. Gwynn Jones this was written entirely in the free meters. Though he composed less and less poetry as the century drew on, he would become one of the most prominent figures in Welsh public life – if not always the most popular – thanks to his literary and academic work, his uncompromising personality as well as a controversial period in politics in his last decades. Like Gruffydd, many of the major revival poets would ultimately become employed at the Welsh colleges. Whilst Morris-Jones at
Bangor had been the first Wales-based professor of Welsh to be employed by the fledgling
University of Wales, by the turn of the century there were also departments of Welsh (or at least "Celtic") at
Cardiff and
Aberystwyth. These would employ Gruffydd at
Cardiff from 1906; similarly
R. Williams Parry (1884–1956) would end up at Bangor from 1922, and both T. Gwynn Jones and
T. H. Parry-Williams (1887–1954) at Aberystwyth from 1914. Other influential early academics, though remembered mainly for their scholarship rather than as poets, were
Ifor Williams (1881–1965) and
Thomas Parry (1904–1985). Figures such as these and others made significant strides in the undoing of the mistakes (and forgeries) of the previous two centuries of antiquarianism. Gruffydd in particular was influential in demanding full academic status for the Welsh language, and it was under his leadership that the Welsh department at Cardiff would be the first to be referred to as such (rather than as a department of 'Celtic'), and the first to conduct all its teaching and internal administration in Welsh. (1884–1956), academic and poet of the 20th-century revival. In 1909 the Chair and Crown had been won by T. Gwynn Jones (again) and Gruffydd respectively, and the following year the Chair was won by another major poet associated with the 20th-century revival,
R. Williams Parry (1884–1956). His victorious poem,
Yr Haf ('Summer'), has remained one of the most popular of all the Eisteddfod
awdlau. A Romantic allegory about the transience of love, it shows the influence of
Omar Khayyam (whose poetry had appeared in a Welsh translation by Morris-Jones in 1907). It earned its author the reputation as the only living practitioner of cynghanedd to rival T. Gwynn Jones and is considered one of the great awdlau of the 20th century. Williams Parry became equally well known, however, as a writer of lyrical poems in the free metres, especially
sonnets (a form which became very popular in Welsh during the first half of the century) such as
Y Llwynog ('The Fox') and
Mae Hiraeth yn y Môr ('There is
Hiraeth in the Sea'). He remains an extremely popular poet for his "acute observation, his independent outlook and his meticulous attention to the mode of expression created a body of poetry which has its own special features and is a unique contribution to Welsh literature." he would win the chair in 1906 and 1808, the first for
Y Lloer ('The Moon'), a love poem which would prove one of the more popular
awdlau of the period. He would go on to be a popular poet for children, edit the poetry of
Hedd Wyn (see below) and serve as
archdruid. (1887–1917)One of the last poets to emerge in the romantic tradition o of the revival was a
shepherd from
Trawsfynydd who would go on to become one of the most famous of all Welsh poets, albeit for tragic reasons.
Hedd Wyn (Ellis Humphrey Evans; 1887–1917) was a gifted poet in the romantic mode of the 20th-century revival. A promising literary career beckoned, however, like many young men of his generation he was enlisted during the
First World War. Shortly after submitting his
awdl on
Yr Arwr (The Hero) – not a romanticisation of the conflict, but a complex,
mystical meditation on the role of the artist – for the 1917 Eisteddfod, he was killed in the
Battle of Passchendaele. His poem having been judged best (by T. Gwynn Jones), during the ceremony Hedd Wyn's chair was draped in a black cloth.
Testing boundaries: Poetry 1910–1940 However much it represented a reaction against the literary traditions of the previous century, the poetic revival of the early 20th century, as expressed in the poetry of all the aforementioned figures in the period, was fundamentally
Romantic in its aesthetic in the same way as much of the literature of the 19th century had been. By the second decade of the century, however, and particularly after the war, poets were increasingly transgressing the expectations of romanticism and beginning to take the first steps into
modernism or at least
post-romanticism. In this context it is possible to see Hedd Wyn's
awdl of 1917 as something of a
swan song for Welsh Romanticism; it has been described by
Alan Llwyd as "the last great poem of the Romantic movement". (1887–1975) The first poet to achieve prominence in a more obviously
modernist idiom was
T. H. Parry-Williams (1887–1975), who capped his remarkable achievement in becoming the first poet to win both chair and crown in the same year, in 1912, by repeating the feat a second time in 1915. His earlier poems including those awarded in 1912 show the strong influence of
R. Silyn Roberts and
W. J. Gruffydd and would have established him as another major figure in the Romantic vein of the other revival poets, and a cynical exploration of the corrupting nature of urban environments on the human condition, it is acknowledged as one of the first significant explorations of urban life and the earliest expressions of modernism in Welsh poetry. It proved controversial, earning the condemnation of arch-romantic
Eifion Wyn. T. Gwynn Jones had been deemed of too poor health to serve in the war but it coincided with a shift towards a darker style in his writing, as seen in
Madog (1918), and the poetry he published in his final collection
Y Dwymyn (The Fever; written around 1935–36) is strikingly modern, particularly when compared to the poetry for which he had become famous. Younger poets also began pushing boundaries.
Cynan (1895–1970) came to prominence initially for poetry describing his experiences as a soldier during the
First World War, including
Mab y Bwthyn, the
pryddest which won him the 1921 Crown; he is perhaps the Welsh poet who responded most extensively and effectively to his experiences as a soldier, but was a poet who believed anything could be material for poetry, writing about things as diverse as
rugby. He courted controversy with form also: the poem that won him the Chair in 1923, ''I'r Duw nid adwaenir
(To the unfamiliar God), was notable as, though in cynghanedd
, it had not been written in the acknowledged twenty-four metres of Welsh strict metre poetry but rather in the form T. Gwynn Jones had invented for Madog''. The Crown saw even more marked experimentation: the poem with which
Wil Ifan (1883–1968) won the award in 1925 was the first time the competition had been won by a poem written in
vers libre. A different kind of controversy took place during the same competition the preceding year, when
Prosser Rhys (1901–1945) won on the subject
Atgof ("Memory") with a poem that caused a scandal due to its frank (for the time) depictions of
sexual intercourse, including
sex between men. Another poet whose depictions of sexuality caused controversy, and one of the major poets in Welsh to emerge between the wars, was
Gwenallt (1899–1968). He won the Chair in 1926 and 1931, but his entry in 1928 on
Y Sant (The Saint), though "by far the best poem in the competition", shocked the adjudicators for its graphic sexual imagery. The poets of the revival had largely avoided religious subjects (so beloved of the
Bardd Newydd): not so Gwenallt, who was "a major force in modern Welsh poetry, and also a major religious poet". (1895–1970), poet, dramatist and archdruid, depicted towards the end of his life, seated in a bardic chair. These overt experiments remained somewhat outside the mainstream of Welsh poetry, however, and much of the work of poets named above like Cynan and Wil Ifan, alongside others such as
Sarnicol (1873–1945),
Crwys (1875–1968),
I. D. Hooson (1880–1948) and
Dewi Emrys (1881–1952) was less controversial stylistically. These regularly-anthologised poets wrote accessible, lyrical poetry in an "adamantly unintellectual" style which brought them popularity and often Eisteddfod success, though they have tended to be overlooked by critics in favour of their more innovative contemporaries. The prominence of
bardic names in this group is significant: Gwenallt was perhaps the only true innovator in the period to use a bardic name. The revival poets from Morris-Jones onwards had tended to eschew bardic names for their associations with the Eisteddfod tradition, and their brief return among the members of this group suggests a more conciliatory attitude towards the
Eisteddfod. Cynan would later serve as
Archdruid, and he is likely the single individual who has had the greatest influence on the Eisteddfod in that capacity: he was responsible for reforming and modernising the Eisteddfod and
Gorsedd and was the first Archdruid to openly acknowledge the inauthenticity of the pseudo-pagan elements which had had their origins in
Iolo Morganwg. poet-novelists
Pennar Davies (1911–1996) and
Rhydwen Williams (1916–1997)
(see below); and brothers
Euros (1904–1988)
(see below) and
Geraint Bowen (1915–2011), whose victorious ''Awdl Foliant i'r Amaethwr'' ('Ode of Praise to the Agriculturalist') of 1946 has been described as one of the most skilfully constructed poems to win the chair, and is easily the most popular poem of the period to do so. Many of these poets were members of the so-called "Cadwgan Circle" in the
Rhondda valley alongside the novelist and short-story writer
Käthe Bosse-Griffiths (1910–1998) and her husband
J. Gwyn Griffiths (1911–2004). Another major South Wales poet was
Alun Llywelyn-Williams (1913–1988). His upbringing in a middle-class, primarily English-speaking household in
Cardiff was far from typical for a Welsh poet of the time and he was in many respects an outsider in Welsh poetry, having seen action in the
Second World War (he believed fighting
fascism was a moral duty, in contrast to many Welsh poets of his generation who were conscientious objectors) and drawing more on English poets like
Auden and
Stephen Spender than his Welsh peers (though the revival poets were also a key influence; he studied at
Cardiff under
W. J. Gruffydd). He eschewed both
cynghanedd and Eisteddfod competition. Though not a prolific one, his poems, often provide perspectives rarely seen from other Welsh poets such as those depicting his wartime experiences including his cycle
Berlin 1945 which depicts the
German capital in ruins after the war from Llywelyn-Williams's first hand perspective. Despite a somewhat half-hearted attempt at winning an Eisteddfod chair in 1936, for all his popularity and undoubted skill Waldo Williams would never attain a major Eisteddfod prize, and neither did genuine innovators like
Saunders Lewis and
James Kitchener Davies, during a period when serial competitors such as
Dewi Emrys would win several. Some writers once more began to question the relationship between the Eisteddfod and literary standards. The Eisteddfod itself, however, remained as popular as ever, and in 1950 passed a rule known as
Y Rheol Gymraeg ('the Welsh Rule', controversial at the time but now widely accepted) dictating that Welsh should be the only language during competition events and performances.
Prose 1900–1950 Novels and short stories (1852–1910), prominent Welsh-language novelist of the 1900s. Whilst a large number of novelists were active during the early 20th-century literary revival, this period in the Welsh-language novel has remained comparatively less well-known considering the prominence of the poetry of the period. Nonetheless, there were a considerable volume of Welsh novels produced by authors such as T. Gwynn Jones (see above) who published at least ten novels between 1897 and 1910, among them
Gorchest Gwilym Bevan (1899) and
Enaid Lewys Meredydd: Stori am y Flwyddyn 2002 (Lewys Meredydd's Soul: A Story of the year 2002), the latter one of the earliest examples of
science fiction in Welsh. Another novelist was
William David Owen, author of
Madam Wen (1914), an
adventure novel about a 17th-century
female pirate. Perhaps the finest novelist in Welsh of the early 20th century was
Gwyneth Vaughan (1852–1910), whose works, especially
Plant y Gorthrwm ("Children of Oppression"; 1905) – a
historical novel taking as its background the
1868 General Election in rural Wales, and the
expansion of the franchise – are radical by the standards of their time, with female characters to the fore and exhibiting clear
proto-feminist and
nationalist themes. Nevertheless, critical discussions of the Welsh novel have tended to give little attention to this period. "Dic Tryfan" (1878–1919), pioneer of the Welsh
short story. The short stories of the period have received more attention, and here yet again T. Gwynn Jones was prominent, though most of his short stories, much as
Daniel Owen's had done, belong more to the genre of
folk literature and light entertainment than literary
short story. This would not be the case with others such as
Robert Dewi Williams (1870–1955) whose story
Y Clawdd Terfyn (The Boundary; 1912) is an early example, as are the stories of
Richard Hughes Williams (1878–1919), which had appeared periodically during the first two decades of the century. Humorous and tragic at turns, Williams's most famous stories are those which explore the lives of the workers of the
North Wales slate quarries and though small in number they are celebrated for their subtlety and humour; Williams would exert a significant influence on later short story writers in Welsh. Modernism caught on more slowly in prose than it had in poetry, and the development of the novel in the Welsh language after the First World War continued to be slow, at least compared with what would come later. The most popular Welsh novel of the 1920s is
E. Tegla Davies's
Gŵr Pen y Bryn (1923), which though popular is essentially Victorian in its idiom. Davies's main legacy was as a writer for children (see below). By the 1930s Welsh novelists had begun to explore beyond these limits, such as
Monica (1930) by
Saunders Lewis (1893–1985; see below), which depicts a woman obsessed with sexuality and caused something of a scandal on its publication, and ''Plasau'r Brenin'' (1934) by
Gwenallt (see above), a semi-autobiographical novel describing the author's experiences in a prison as a
conscientious objector during the war. Other authors such as
Lewis Davies (1863–1951), author of four adventure novels in the 1920s, and
E. Morgan Humphreys (1882–1955) are sometimes described as writing for younger readers but should perhaps better be understood as writers of
popular literature intended for a wide audience. As well as a range of early adventure stories, Humphreys pioneered
detective fiction in Welsh, with his detective John Aubrey appearing in four novels beginning with
Y Llaw Gudd ('The Hidden Hand') in 1924. The most highly regarded and popular novels were in more
literary yet
realist idiom, however, such as
Traed Mewn Cyffion (Feet in Chains; 1936) by
Kate Roberts (1891–1985) and the works of Elena Puw Morgan (1900–1973), whose novel
Y Graith (The Scar) won the one of the first Prose Medals (Welsh:
Y Fedal Ryddiaith) at the
Eisteddfod in 1938: this new award for prose was ostensibly equal to the chair and Crown. The most successful novelist of the first half of the 20th century, both commercially and critically, was
T. Rowland Hughes (1903–1949), many of whose novels described culture of the slate quarrying regions of North-West Wales, including
William Jones (1942) and
Chwalfa (1946). Characterised by "gentleness, geniality, and kindness and by the courage of his chief characters", they were the first novels in Welsh to match
Daniel Owen for popularity;
Children's literature 's books for children. Although a few of the denominations had produced printed works aimed at children during the 19th century, and
O. M. Edwards had begun the secular children's magazine ''Cymru'r Plant'' ('Wales for the Children's) during the 1890s, the 20th century saw authors begin to take writing for children more seriously. Perhaps the two most prominent figures in Welsh children's writing in the first half of the century were
E. Tegla Davies (1880–1967), who published at least seven short novels for children between 1912 and 1938 and
Moelona (1877–1953) who produced at least four over the same period. Both authors drew on the kind of children's stories widely available in English. Tegla Davies's stories showcased his quirky sense of humour and adventure, and included an early science fiction story
Rhys Llwyd y Lleuad (1925); though he also drew on Welsh history and folklore with works like
Tir y Dyneddon (1921), and
Hen Ffrindiau (1927). The background of Moelona's works was typically more domestic as in her most famous book,
Teulu Bach Nantoer (The Little Family at Nantoer; 1912), which was perhaps the most popular children's book of its period, selling over thirty thousand copies. This was not always the case, however:
Breuddwydion Myfanwy (1928) is a
desert island adventure. Moelona's stories often foreground the role of girls and women in a way male authors rarely did, and perhaps as a result have tended to be characterised as being 'girls' novels', though the frontispieces typically describe them as being 'for children'. (Elizabeth Mary Owen, 1877–1953) in 1917.Although both Tegla Davies and particularly Moelona are now probably better known for their writing for younger readers, both also wrote for adults, and there was not always a clear distinction between writing for these different audiences. Many authors best known for their books for adults produced at least one work for children, such as T. Gwynn Jones who wrote ''Yn Oes yr Arth a'r Blaidd'' ('The Age of the Bear and Wolf'; 1908/13), a story about the
stone age, and
T. Rowland Hughes whose first book
Storiau Mawr y Byd ('The Great Stories of the World'; 1939) was a retelling of
classical and
biblical stories as well as others from
Celtic and
Germanic mythology. Undoubtedly the single most influential and beloved work in Welsh for children of the first half of the 20th century was
Llyfr Mawr y Plant ('The Children's Big Book'; four volumes: 1931, 1939, 1949 and 1975). Written and illustrated mainly by
Jennie Thomas (1898–1979) and
J. O. Williams (1892–1973) and Described seventy years after its first publication as a "masterpiece" and "iconic", it was an attempt to create a Welsh equivalent of the children's
literary annuals popular in English, consisting of a combination of stories, poetry, and puzzles, and introduced popular characters like
Siôn Blewyn Coch and especially
Wil Cwac Cwac, who would later become a television
cartoon.
Other prose An unusual genre of note in 20th century Welsh literature is the
personal or expressive essay (known in Welsh as a
Ysgrif), a genre overlapping with the
short story and
prose poem which occupies a relatively larger position within Welsh-language literature than in other traditions such as English literature, with regular competitions for a
Ysgrif at the Eisteddfod (collections of
Ysgrifau may also occasionally win the Prose Medal). Generally a literary, rather than
polemical or
didactic exercise, a Welsh
Ysgrif typically takes as its subject an object or event of little inherent significance and uses it to explore the author's personality or emotional state; though they can also portray an individual known to the poet or a specific place, in which case they overlap with
historical or
travel writing. Though sometimes used in connection to early figures like
O. M. Edwards, the
Ysgrif is considered to have been pioneered after the First World War by poet
T. H. Parry-Williams (1887–1975;
see above), who began writing them in 1918 and published dozens in several collections; Like Edwards and Bebb, historian
R. T. Jenkins (1881–1969) wrote a number of accessible works of popular history in Welsh. Whilst Edwards and Bebb's travel writing had focused on the immediate
European continent, a few other Welsh writers ventured further afield. The irrepressibly prolific T. Gwynn Jones produced ''Y Môr Canoldir a'r Aifft'' ('The
Mediterranean and
Egypt') in 1912, even though he was travelling on medical advice and meant to be resting; and
Eluned Morgan (1870–1938), perhaps the most significant literary figure to emerge from the
Welsh-speaking colony in Patagonia, described her travels in
South America.
20th-century drama .The efforts of
Beriah Gwynfe Evans (
see above) to establish a Welsh dramatic tradition continued in the first decades of the 20th century, and though largely forgotten today the performance of his
Owain Glyndwr at the
Investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1911 (for which he had rewritten his original play from 1879) was celebrated at the time as a significant event in the development of a native tradition. Although Evans had experimented with a more naturalistic idiom in ''Ystori'r Streic'' ('The Story of the Strike', 1904),
Owain Glyndwr was a verse "Pageant" explicitly described as being "in the style of
Shakespeare"; of perhaps more importance was the appearance plays in a modern style resembling the work of contemporary English language dramatists like
J. M. Synge during the 1910s. A key early example was ''Beddau'r Proffwydi'' ('The Prophets' Graves', 1913) by
W. J. Gruffydd, written for performance by University students and among the earliest works of
realist theatre in Welsh being acknowledged as important milestones in the development of Welsh-language theatre. Gruffydd followed this with the satire
Dyrchafiad Arall i Gymro ('A Welshman Promoted Again', 1914); his fellow revival poet T. Gwynn Jones (
see above) also wrote a number of plays and translated
Macbeth in the 1910s, but whilst these were poets first and foremost, by the 1920s Welsh theatre could boast of figures like
R. G. Berry (1869–1945) and
David Thomas Davies (1876–1962) who were primarily dramatists; their works were being performed across Wales alongside that of their English-language contemporary
John Oswald Francis (1882–1956), who encouraged the translation and performance of his plays in Welsh. (1893–1985), a major figure in 20th century Welsh literature and politics.These figures' work was built on during the middle decades of the 20th century by younger playwrights. In
Cwm Glo ('Coal Valley', 1934)
James Kitchener Davies (1902–1952) depicted the impact of the
Depression on the
South Wales Valleys in a bleak and unromantic fashion which contrasted starkly with the novels of
T. Rowland Hughes, whose own play
Y Ffordd ('The Road', 1945) extended his gentler approach into theatre.
John Gwilym Jones (1904–1988) was an occasional novelist and short story writer but plays formed the bulk of his literary output; beginning with works like
Y Brodyr ('The Brothers', 1934) and
Diofal yw Dim ('Careless is Nothing', 1942) he introduced a
Brechtian modernism to Welsh theatre, continuing to and produce write plays until 1979. However, perhaps the most significant figure in Welsh theatre of the mid 20th century, indeed of any period, and one of the major figures of the century in Welsh literature and public life was
Saunders Lewis (1893–1985). He was a crucial figure in his country's
political scene as the founder of the party later known as
Plaid Cymru. Outside politics Lewis was an influential academic and essayist, important poet and an occasional novelist, but his main literary legacy was in works for the stage. His plays – some written for the
radio – include
Blodeuwedd (1923–25, revised 1948),
Buchedd Garmon (1936) and
Siwan (1956) among others, and drew upon a wide range of material and subject matter including
Welsh mythology and
history as well as the
Bible, although he also wrote plays set in contemporary Wales. A complex and sometimes controversial figure, the influence and significance of his dramatic output was recognised with a
Nobel Prize nomination in 1970. ==1950–2000==