I have been reading a poem ‘Gwladus Rhys’ by W.J.Gruffydd, which is, as far as I am any judge, a very powerful and haunting piece, but it’s also a bit elliptical in places, and I am hoping that there are members in the group who know the poem well and can confirm or correct my understanding of it.
Firstly, do we take it that the ‘Someone’ (Rhywun) who comes towards the manse is a young man, who stirs strange feelings in Gwladus’s heart and seems to offer a promise of escape from her unfulfilled and stultifying life?
Secondly, nothing comes of this. We are not told why. Do we take it that is because her father does not approve and quashes any potential relationship? This would explain the line ‘Heb ateb gair i flinder oer fy nhad’ – ‘making no answer to my father’s cold anger’?
Thirdly, she goes out in the snow alone at night and dies – do we assume of something like pneumonia, or does she just do a Captain Oates and lie down in the blizzard?
Fourthly, she is buried ‘Wrth dalcen Capel Horeb’. I know ‘talcen’ normally means ‘forehead’ or ‘brow’ but can also mean, as presumably here, the end of a building. But is there a special significance in this location for her grave? I am thinking of A.E.Housman’s lines in the poem ‘Hughley Steeple’:
‘North, for a soon-told number,
Chill graves the sexton delves,
And steeple-shadowed slumber
The slayers of themselves.’
So maybe Gwladus is buried in a spot reserved for suicides? But I could be on entirely the wrong track here.
Lastly, when you look the poem up online the spelling is ‘Gwladys’ but in the poem as I have it printed in the ‘Oxford Book of 20th Century Welsh Verse’ it is ‘Gwladus’. Just variant spellings of the name?
Thanks in advance for any assistance. In case a reminder of the text is needed…
Gwladus Rhys
Seiat, Cwrdd Gweddi, Dorcas, a Chwrdd Plant;
A ’nhad drwy’r dydd a’r nos mor flin â’r gwynt
A’r gwynt drwy’r dydd a’r nos ym mrigau’r pin
O amgylch ty’r gweinidog. Ac ’roedd ’mam,
Wrth geisio dysgu iaith y nef, heb iaith
Ond son am Oedfa, Seiat, Cwrdd a Dorcas.
Pe beth oedd im i’w wneuthur, Gwladus Rhys,
Merch hynaf y Parchedig Thomas Rhys,
Gweinidog Horeb ar y Rhos? Pa beth
Ond mynych flin ddyheu, a diflas droi
Fy llygaid draw ac yma dros y waun,
A chodi’r bore i ddymuno nos,
A throsi drwy’r nos hir, dan ddisgwyl bore?
A’r gaeaf, O fy Nuw, wrth dynnu’r llen
Dros y ffenestri bedwar yn y pnawn,
A chlywed gwynt yn gwyno ym mrigau’r pîn,
A gwrando ar ymddiddan ’nhad a ’mam!
Rhyw ddiwrnod fe ddaeth Rhywun tua’r ty,
A theimlais Rywbeth rhyfedd yn fy nghalon:
Nid oedd y gwynt yn cwyno yn y pîn,
A mwyach nid oedd raid i’m llygaid droi
Yma ac acw dros y waun. Daeth chwa
Rhyw awel hyfryd o’r gororau pell.
Mi dynnais innau’r llenni dros y ffenestr,
Heb ateb gair i flinder oer fy nhad,
A gwrando ‘mam yn adrodd hanes hir
Cymdeithas Ddirwest Merched Gwynedd: yna
Heb air wrth neb eis allan drwy yr eira,
Pan oedd y gwynt yn cwyno drwy y pîn,
A hithau’n noson Seiat a Chwrdd Dorcas.
Am hynny, deithiwr, yma ’rwyf yn gorwedd
Wrth dalcen Capel Horeb, – Gwladus Rhys,
Yn ddeg ar hugain oed, a ’nhad a ’mam
Yn pasio heibio i’r Seiat ac i’r Cwrdd,
Cyfarfod Gweddi, Dorcas, a phwyllgorau
Cymdeithas Ddirwest Merched Gwynedd; yma
Yn nyffryn angof, am nod oedd y chwa
A glywswn unwaith o’r gororau pell
Ond swn y gwynt yn cwyno yn y pîn.
W.J.Gruffydd