Saunders Lewis - dyfodol yr iaith

 

He is the only genius I have ever known.

He arrived with the reputation of a legend.  Teachers in my grammar school sent us to hear a lecture by Saunders Lewis.  We were told that a fresh quotation from him would guarantee additional marks from our external examiners.

I vividly recall sitting immediately in front of him at a performance of one of his plays. He and Professor W J Gruffydd exchanged wisecracks and giggled uproariously throughout the performance. He was a delightful lecturer. His thin reedy voice, cunning humour and catholic tastes beguiled his students. I recall that he warned his class about the dangers of politics.'It can lead you to very strange places.' In his case it was Wormwood Scrubs.

His civil disobedience was to burn part of a door at a bombing school in the company of two other patriots. Incredibly the Llyn Peninsula was to be the target for bombing practise.  Two areas in England had been considered and rejected because of local protests. The bombing  never happened. The Welsh jury at Caernarfon refused to convict  Saunders, Lewis Valentine and D J Williams. The case was re-tried in London.

The blood of  Welsh speakers ran cold with the message of Saunders Lewis's warning in 1962 that without revolutionary action the Welsh language would not survive into the 21st century. It shattered the cosy complacency of language loyalists. A language that was developed and sophisticated centuries before English existed  could die of neglect in our generation. The chilling nightmare inspired action. There were heroic sacrifices by the young people of Cymdeithas yr iaith Gymraeg.

My minute contribution was to endlessly campaign within the Broadcasting Council for Wales for a fourth channel. Its success has played a major role in inspiring Welsh language creative activity. The blossoming of Welsh medium education has produced fresh generations of  writers, actors, musicians and teachers.

If Saunders Lewis was living now, he would have been astonished and delighted at the continuing vibrancy of Welsh language life. The language of heaven is still  the medium for literature, television, radio, tweeting, making love, cursing, and praying. He would have been delighted with the easy fluency of debates on all political subjects in a 'parliament' located on the soil of our own country.

We need to be jerked into a new reality. False optimism is debilitating. The language has retreated in many of its traditional habitats. A new pessimism should inspire fresh determination to guarantee a lively satisfying future.

 

Comments

[Robert Tyler]

Simple question, Paul, Why aren't you a member of Plaid Cymru?

[Plashing Vole]

I don't disagree with anything you've said about Saunders Lewis's defence of yr hen iaith, but this isn't a complete view of SL. He was also a hardline reactionary, a man who would be a rock-ribbed Tory in England. His vision of Wales was of an authoritarian, hierarchical state entirely at odds with the socialists: thank heavens that Plaid's post-1968 reinvention did away with his de Valera-style vision in favour of a post-colonial left(ish) nationalism.

The shame of Wales is the division between Cymru Cymraeg and the industrial/post-industrial proletariat. A Wales which sings The Red Flag yn Gymraeg would be a wonderful place - but Saunders Lewis' politics postponed that day for decades, perhaps for ever.

[Paul Flynn]

Thanks Plashing Vole. This is the 'Aneurin Bevan was a Nazi" argument. Ot judging people in another epoch by our standards now. Of all people former MP Tony Wright argued with me that the Charitists were not good on Womens' Issues. They were not. No one was in 1840 by our present standards.

The working class hero was Gwenallt who wrote about the miners in the anthracite areas of south Wales and the horrors of mining illnesses. I'm not suggesting canonising Saunders Lewis. But there is no argument that he was a literary genius. his politics reflected the divisions of his day.

[Paul Flynn]

My roots are very deep in the Labour party since childhood. There is a need for the voices of devolution. I have identical opinions to the Green party on many issues too.

[Paul Flynn]

Reluctantly removed a repeat of misleading comments submitted by someone with a nom de plume. The remarks are off-piste on this subject. Admiring his vision and abilities does not suggest support for every view he expressed in his lifetime.I heard his views on many subjects and the comment is the letter grossly mis-represent the views of the literary genius that I knew. Happy to debate this at length but not with nameless correspondents

[DG]

“Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people.”

George Bernard Shaw

[Miss Represented]

'Reluctantly removed a repeat of misleading comments submitted by someone with a nom de plume. The remarks are off-piste on this subject. Admiring his vision and abilities does not suggest support for every view he expressed in his lifetime.I heard his views on many subjects and the comment is the letter grossly mis-represent the views of the literary genius that I knew. Happy to debate this at length but not with nameless correspondents'

Suppression of information: that old tactic.

[Miss Represented]

'The remarks are off-piste on this subject.'

Btw Paul, what does 'off piste' mean exactly? Like most Newport folk one here could never afford to ski like you can?

[Miss Represented]

Ps. Owned*:)!

[DG]

How often do you seriously think an arthritic octagenarian goes skiing?

Also, please don't presume all Newportonians share your difficulty in comprehending (or at least Googling) common idioms.

[Paul Flynn]

This blog will not be used by anonymous people making unsubstantiated claims

[Miss Represented]

'I'm not suggesting canonising Saunders Lewis.'

Canonising is meaningless - when all it means is some reactionary misogynist hompohobe irrationalist called a pope officially hearting someone whilst ignoring children being abused in his own organisation lest it should ruin his own career prospects.

[Gerald]

Miss Represented I am not a Roman Catholic so I would be interested to hear from you what the career prospects are for a Pope?
Surely the next step is, as the Salvationists say, to be promoted to glory?

In my view that is not much of a career prospect, but I look forward to hearing from you.