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Home » Arts and Culture » Literature » Owen, Goronwy (1723-69)

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  • In 1957 a memorial service was held in memory of the poet Goronwy Owen (1723-69) at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, United States of America. A plaque was also dedicated in his honour and presented by the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, Williamsburg. Goronwy Owen (Goronwy Ddu o Fôn) was born in the parish of Llanfair Mathafarn Eithaf, Anglesey. He was educated at Pwllheli Free School and Friars School, Bangor, and went to Jesus College, Oxford, but left without a degree in 1745. He entered the priesthood in 1746 and spent many years as an impoverished curate in England. In 1757 he emigrated to the United States of America to take up a teaching post at William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia. His wife and infant died during the voyage. He remarried in America but his second wife and child also died, a tragedy which led Owen to seek solace in drink. However, his prodigal lifestyle eventually lost him his teaching post and in 1760 he returned to the priesthood in St Andrew's Parish, Virginia. It was there, in 1763, that he married for the third time and spent the last years of his life as a tobacco planter and vicar.
Programme of a Memorial Service for Goronwy Owen (1723-1769) held at Williamsburg, Virginia, United States of America, 28 August 1957 [image 1 of 4]
  • The poet Goronwy Owen (Goronwy Ddu o Fôn) (1723-69) was born in 'Y Dafarn Goch' in the parish of Llanfair Mathafarn Eithaf, Anglesey. He was educated at Pwllheli Free School and Friars School, Bangor, and went to Jesus College, Oxford, but left without a degree in 1745. He entered the priesthood in 1746 and spent many years as an impoverished curate in England. In 1757 he emigrated to the United States of America to take up a teaching post at William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia. His wife and infant died during the voyage. He remarried in America but his second wife and child also died, a tragedy which led Owen to seek solace in drink. However, his prodigal lifestyle eventually lost him his teaching post and in 1760 he returned to the priesthood in St Andrew's Parish, Virginia. It was there, in 1763, that he married for the third time and spent the last years of his life as a tobacco planter and vicar.
Y Dafarn Goch, the birthplace of the poet Goronwy Owen (1723-69), Llanfair Mathafarn Eithaf
  • Goronwy Owen (1723-69) was one of Wales's most important poets of the eighteenth century and a master of the cynghanedd (described in the University of Wales dictionary as 'a system of consonance or alliteration in a line of Welsh poetry in strict metre'). This manuscript includes a draft copy of his cywydd 'Hiraeth' in the hand of another of the century's leading figures, Lewis Morris (1701-65). Goronwy Owen was born in 1723 to a poor family in the parish of Llanfair Mathafarn Eithaf, Anglesey. His mother, Siân Parry, had been a maid at Pentre-eiriannell, the home of the famous Morris family. His father, Owen Gronw, was an artisan who could compose cynghanedd to some extent. Goronwy attended Friars school, Bangor where he learnt Latin and Greek to a high standard. He also took a special interest in poetry, and by the age of seventeen, according to his own testimony, he could compete against much older poets. His development as a poet was encouraged by Lewis Morris. Following a short period at Jesus College, Oxford, he was an assistant teacher at Pwllheli and Denbigh. He went on to Llanfair Mathafarn as a curate, but had to leave. He moved on to Oswestry where he married for the first time in 1747. He left in order to escape debt collectors and moved to Donnington near Shrewsbury where he composed many of his most famous poems. From there he moved to Walton and then to Northolt, London but by now his lifestyle was becoming increasingly profligate and Lewis Morris was worried that he might lose his position as a curate. In 1757 he accepted a position as a teacher at a grammar school in Williamsburgh, Virginia. His wife and one of his children died on the journey. He re-married in America but his second wife died within a few months. He lost his position in the school as a consequence of his excessive drinking and spent his final years as a parish parson in St. Andrew's, Brunswick County where he married for the third time. Goronwy attempted to revive Welsh poetry from its decline following the Anglicisation of the traditional patrons of the poets, the native Welsh gentry. He believed that he could re-interpret the traditional strict metre poetry for his own age. Instead of cywyddau praising the houses of various members of the gentry, there are poems dealing with subjects such as longing and contemplations on the Christian life. Amongst his best poems are 'Cywydd yn ateb Huw'r Bardd Coch o Fôn' and 'Awdl Gofuned'. The cywydd 'Hiraeth' that appears in incomplete draft form in this manuscript is usually referred to by its full title of 'Cywydd ateb i annerch Huw ap Huw'r bardd o Lwydiarth Esgob, ym Môn' or by its shorter title of 'Cywydd molawd Môn ('Cywydd in praise of Anglesey'). This cywydd was composed about 1756 when Goronwy lived at Northolt in London.
'Cywydd Hiraeth' by Goronwy Owen, c. 1756, page 1 of 6