Saunders Lewis (John Saunders Lewis), (October 15, 1893 - September 1, 1985), was a Welsh poet, dramatist, historian, literary critic and political activist. He was a prominent Welsh nationalist and founder of the Welsh National Party (later known as Plaid Cymru). Lewis is usually acknowledged to have been the most prominent figure in twentieth-century Welsh-language literature. October 15 is the 288th day of the year (289th in leap years). ... 1893 (MDCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... September 1 is the 244th day of the year (245th in leap years). ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Motto: (Welsh for Wales forever) Anthem: Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau Capital Cardiff Largest city Cardiff Official language(s) English, Welsh Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Rhodri Morgan AM Unification    - by Gruffudd ap Llywelyn 1056  Area    - Total 20,779 km² (3rd in... A poet is some one who writes poetry. ... A dramatist is an author of dramatic compositions, usually plays. ... A historian is someone who writes history, and history is a written accounting of the past. ... Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. ... Activism, in a general sense, can be described as intentional action to bring about social or political change. ... Welsh nationalism is the Welsh expression of nationalism, a movement that became popular in nineteenth-century Europe and gradually became a global phenomenon in the twentieth century. ... Plaid Cymru (pronounced IPA: ) – The Party of Wales, is the principal nationalist political party in Wales. ...

Life

Born into a Welsh family living in Cheshire in 1893, Lewis was studying English and French at Liverpool University when the First World War broke out. After serving as an officer with the South Wales Borderers he returned to university to graduate in English. The Cheshire Plain - photo taken adjacent to Beeston Castle The Cheshire Plain - photo taken towards Merseyside The Cheshire Plain panorama - photo taken from Mid-Cheshire Ridge Cattle farming in the county Black-and-white timbered buildings on Nantwich High Street Cheshire (or, archaically, the County of Chester) [1] is a... 1893 (MDCCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... The University of Liverpool is a university in the city of Liverpool in the United Kingdom. ... Combatants Allied Powers: France Italy Russia Serbia United Kingdom United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Commanders Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Ferdinand Foch Georges Clemenceau Luigi Cadorna Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Paul von Hindenburg Reinhard Scheer Franz Josef I Conrad von... The South Wales Borderers was an infantry regiment of the British Army. ...

In 1922 he was appointed as a lecturer in Welsh at the University College of Wales, Swansea. During his time at Swansea he produced some of his most exciting works of literary criticism: A School of Welsh Augustans (1924), Williams Pantycelyn (1927), and Braslun o hanes llenyddiaeth Gymraeg (=An outline history of Welsh literature) (1932). The University of Wales, Swansea was founded in 1920 as University College, Swansea, the fourth college of the University of Wales, following the report of the Haldane Commission into University Education in Wales. ... Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. ...

His experiences in World War I, and his sympathy for the cause of Irish independence, brought him to nationalism, and in 1925 he co-founded the Welsh National Party (to be known later as Plaid Cymru). He became its president in 1926 and remained so until 1939. Combatants Allied Powers: France Italy Russia Serbia United Kingdom United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Commanders Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Ferdinand Foch Georges Clemenceau Luigi Cadorna Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Paul von Hindenburg Reinhard Scheer Franz Josef I Conrad von... Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix Nationalism is an ideology [1] that holds that a nation is the fundamental unit for human social life, and takes precedence over any other social and political principles. ... 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Plaid Cymru (pronounced IPA: ) – The Party of Wales, is the principal nationalist political party in Wales. ...

Lewis was the son and grandson of prominent Welsh Calvinistic Methodist ministers. In 1932, he converted to Roman Catholicism. The Presbyterian church of Wales (Welsh: Eglwys Bresbyteraidd Cymru), also known as The Calvinistic Methodist Church (Welsh: Yr Eglwys Fethodistaidd Galfinaidd), is a denomination of Protestant Christianity. ... As a Christian ecclesiastical term, Catholic - from the Greek adjective , meaning general or universal[2] - is described in the Oxford Dictionary as follows: ~Church, (originally) whole body of Christians; ~, belonging to or in accord with (a) this, (b) the church before separation into Greek or Eastern and Latin or Western...

In 1936, along with Lewis Valentine and D. J. Williams, Lewis was involved in an arson attack on an air force base at Penyberth in northwest Wales for which he was imprisoned, losing his lecturing post as a result. The sequence of events raised his personal profile and that of Plaid Cymru. Until he was appointed a senior lecturer in Welsh at Cardiff in 1952 he supported himself through journalism, farming and teaching in schools. 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Lewis Valentine (1893-1986) was a Baptist pastor, author, editor and political activist. ... D. J. Williams (David John Williams) (1885–1970) was one of the foremost Welsh-language writers of the twentieth-century. ... Penyberth was a farmhouse at Penrhos, near Pwllheli, Gwynedd, which had been the home to generations of patrons of poets, but destroyed in 1936 in order to build a training camp and aerodrome for the RAF. The training camp, known to opponents as the bombing school (Welsh: yr ysgol fomio... Plaid Cymru (pronounced IPA: ) – The Party of Wales, is the principal nationalist political party in Wales. ... Cardiff (English:  Welsh: ) is the capital of Wales and its largest city. ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

After his retirement from teaching in 1957, he continued to express militant views. In 1962 he gave the Annual BBC Wales Radio lecture on the subject Tynged yr iaith (=The fate of the Welsh language) and as a result Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (=The Welsh Language Society) was formed to campaign for basic rights for Welsh speakers and for support to be given to enable the Welsh language to survive. The word militant has come to refer to any individual or party engaged in aggressive physical or verbal combat, normally for a cause. ... What is Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg? Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (the Welsh Language Society) is a pressure group campaigning for the future of the Welsh language. ...

In 1970, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature. His literary works include plays, poetry, novels and essays. He wrote mostly in Welsh, but he also wrote some works in English. By the time of his death in 1985 he was amongst the most celebrated of Welsh writers. 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... Nobel Prize medal. ... Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Literary activity

Lewis was above all a dramatist. His earliest published play was Blodeuwedd (=The woman of flowers) (1923-25, revised 1948). Other notable plays include Buchedd Garmon (=The life of Germanus) (radio play, 1936), Siwan (1956), Gymerwch chi sigarét? (=Will you have a cigarette?) (1956), Brad (=Treachery) (1958), Esther (1960), and Cymru fydd (=Tomorrow's Wales) (1967). He also translated Samuel Beckett's En attendant Godot into Welsh. Samuel Barclay Beckett (13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish dramatist, novelist and poet. ... Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ...

He also published two novels, Monica (1930) and Merch Gwern Hywel (=The daughter of Gwern Hywel) (1964), and two collections of poems. He also published numerous articles and essays in various newspapers, magazines, and journals. These articles have been collected into volumes including: Canlyn Arthur (=Following Arthur) (1938), Ysgrifau dydd Mercher (=Wednesday essays) (1945), Meistri'r canrifoedd (=Masters of the centuries) (1973), Meistri a'u crefft (=Masters and their craft) (1981), and Ati ŵyr ifainc (=Go to it, young men) (1986). Monica is a novel by Saunders Lewis, written in the Welsh language and originally published in 1930. ...

Works in English and translations

• Lewis, Saunders (1997), Monica. Translated by Meic Stephens. Bridgend: Seren. ISBN 1-85411-195-7.
• Lewis, Saunders (1985-2002), The plays of Saunders Lewis. 4 vols. Translated by Joseph P. Clancy. ISBN 0-9540569-4-9, 0715406485, 0954056957, 0715406523.
• Lewis, Saunders (1993), Selected poems. Translated by Joseph P. Clancy. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-1194-6.

Sources

• Griffiths, Bruce (1989), Saunders Lewis. Writers of Wales series. Cardiff : University of Wales Pres. ISBN 0-7083-1049-4.
• Jones, Alun R. & Gwyn Thomas (Eds.) (1973), Presenting Saunders Lewis. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-0852-X.
• Jones, Harri Pritchard (1991), Saunders Lewis : a presentation of his work. Illinois : Templegate. ISBN 0-87243-187-8.
• 'Lewis, Saunders (1893-1985)'. In Meic Stephens (Ed.) (1998), The new companion to the literature of Wales. Cardiff : University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-1383-3.

• Chapman, T. Robin (2006), Un bywyd o blith nifer: cofiant Saunders Lewis. Llandysul, Gomer. ISBN 1-8432-3709-1. In Welsh, but the only complete biography.

External links

• Saunders Lewis and the "Tynged yr iaith" (=The fate of the Welsh language) lecture from the National Library of Wales website
• Saunders Lewis, 'The Banned Wireless Talk on Welsh Nationalism' (Caernarvon, 1930) from the Gathering the Jewels website.