Dewi Emrys (David Emrys James) 1881-1952 - Bardd / Poet

Cyn hir, roedd Dewi yn dechrau gweithio gyda staff ‘Y County Echo’. Ar ôl marwolaeth ei dad, symudodd y teulu i Gaerfyrddin ac aeth Dewi i weithio gyda staff y ‘Carmarthen Journal’. Yn 1903, aeth i Goleg Presbyteraidd a dilyn ei dad i’r weinidogaeth.

Ar ôl cyfnod fel gweinidog yn Nowlais derbyniodd Dewi alwad gan Eglwys Saesneg Bwcle, Sir y Fflint, yn 1908. Yn yr un flwyddyn, priododd â Cissie Jenkins, merch o Gaerfyrddin. Ym Mwcle ganwyd dau fab iddynt, Alun a Gwyn. Yn 1911, symudodd y teulu i Bontypridd. Yno cyrhaeddodd Dewi boblogrwydd mawr fel pregethwr, ac ennill enw iddo’i hun drwy Gymru. Wedyn, dechreuodd y problemau ariannol a phersonol a fyddai’n ei ddilyn trwy ei oes. Ar ôl i’r teulu symud i Lundain yn 1915 aeth y problemau yn drech na Dewi, a gadawodd ei deulu a’i eglwys yn 1917, gan ymuno â’r fyddin.

Ar ôl Y Rhyfel Mawr, ceisiodd Dewi wneud bywoliaeth o’i newyddiaduraeth eto. Er iddo weithio yn Fleet Street, aeth pethau yn ddiflas arno, a threuliodd sawl noson dan y sêr ar lannau’r afon Tafwys. Cefnodd Cymry Llundain arno, y cyn-bregethwr a oedd erbyn hyn i’w weld yn canu y tu allan i’r eglwysi, a’i gap yn ei law. Ond yn 1926, enillodd y Goron yn Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Abertawe gyda chasgliad o gerddi – Rhigymau’r Ffordd Fawr. Yn yr un Eisteddfod, enillodd ar gystadleuaeth ‘Darn o Farddoniaeth mewn Tafodiaith’ gyda’r gerdd a fyddai’n dod yn un o’i weithiau mwya adnabyddus,- “Pwllderi”. Daeth ei wraig i chwilio amdano yn Abertawe, gan fod Dewi heb dalu tuag at gynnal ei deulu ers blynyddoedd. Bu’n rhaid i Dewi roi’r arian iddi, a rhoi ei goron newydd mewn ‘pawn siop’ yn Abertawe. Aeth Dewi ymlaen i ennill y Gadair yn y Genedlaethol bedair gwaith, – yn Lerpwl, 1929 , Llanelli, 1930, Bangor, 1943, a Phen-y-bont ar Ogwr, 1948.

Aeth Dewi Emrys i fyw, gyda’i ferch Dwynwen, yn “Y Bwthyn”, Talgarreg, Sir Aberteifi yn 1941, ac yn y fan honno yr arhosodd. Bu farw yn Aberystwyth ym mis Medi, 1952, a chafodd ei gladdu ym mynwent Capel Pisgah, ar bwys Talgarreg. Dywedodd ei gyfaill, y Prifardd T. Llew Jones am yr achlysur:
‘ Ychydig iawn o bobl a welodd yn dda i ddod i’r angladd. Yn wir, roedd y capel yn hanner gwag.’

Dyma englyn o waith Dewi i’r ‘Gorwel’

‘Wele rith fel ymyl rhod – o’n cwmpas, Campwaith dewin hynod;                                   Hen linell bell nad yw`n bod,                           Hen derfyn nad yw`n darfod.’

Darn o’r gerdd ‘Pwllderi’.

‘Dim ond un tŷ sy’n agos ato,
A hwnnw yng nghesel Garn Fowr yn cwato.
Dolgâr yw ei enw, hen orest o le,
Ond man am reso a dished o de,
Neu ffioled o gawl, a thina well bolied,
Yn genin a thato a sêrs ar’i wmed.
Cewch weld y crochon a dribe ino,
A’r eithin yn ffaglu a chretshan dano.
Cewch lond y lletwad, a’i llond hi lweth,
A hwnnw’n ffeinach nag un gimisgeth;
A chewch lwy bren yn y ffiol hefyd,
A chwlffyn o gaws o hen gosin hifryd.’

On leaving school he started work with ‘ The County Echo’ staff. After his father’s death, the family moved to Carmarthen and Dewi went to work on ‘The Carmarthen Journal’. In 1903, he went to the Presbyterian College and followed his father to the ministry.

After a period as a minister in Dowlais, Dewi received a call from Buckley English Church, Flintshire, in 1908. In the same year, he married Cissie Jenkins, a girl from Carmarthen. In Buckley, two sons were born to the family, Alun and Gwyn. In 1911, the family moved to Pontypridd. Dewi reached great popularity as a preacher, and earned himself a name throughout Wales. Then began the financial and personal problems that would dog him throughout his life. After the family moved to London in 1915, problems overwhelmed Dewi, and he left his family and church in 1917 and joined the army.

After the Great War, Dewi tried to make a living from his journalism again. Although he worked on Fleet St, things got beyond him, and he spent several nights under the stars on the banks of the river Thames. The London Welsh community abandoned him, – the former preacher who now sang outside churches, his cap in his hands. But in 1926, he won the Crown at the Swansea National Eisteddfod with a collection of poems. At the same Eisteddfod, he won a competition for a dialect poem. This would become one of his most well-known works, “Pwllderi”. His wife came to look for him in Swansea, as Dewi had not paid towards maintaining his family for years. Dewi had to give her the money, and put his new crown in a pawn shop in Swansea. Dewi went on to win the Chair at the National four times, in Liverpool, 1929 , Llanelli, 1930, Bangor, 1943, and Bridgend, 1948.

Dewi Emrys went to live, with his daughter Dwynwen, in “Y Bwthyn”, Talgarreg, Cardiganshire in 1941 and there he stayed. He died in Aberystwyth in September, 1952, and was buried in the cemetery of Pisgah Chapel, near Talgarreg. His friend, poet T. Llew Jones said of the occasion:
‘ Very few people saw fit to come to the funeral. In fact, the chapel was half empty.’

This is a translation of an ‘englyn’ by Dewi to ‘The Horizon’

‘Fine illusion, like a wheel edge – around us,  Masterpiece of a remarkable magician;                 An ancient far off line that doesn’t exist,             An ending that is infinite.’

Part of the poem ‘Pwllderi’, translated by Dillwyn Miles, Herald Bard of Wales, from the Pencaer dialect of the original

‘There’s only one house near the place
And that hides in the arm-pit of Garn Fawr,
Dolgaer it is called, an old barn of a house
But a place for a welcome and a cup of tea
Or a bowl of cawl, and that’s a better feed
With leeks and potatoes and stars on its face.
You’ll see the cauldron on the tripod there
And the gorse blazing gaily beneath it.
You shall have the ladle full, and filled again
And that lovelier than any mixture;
You’ll have a wooden spoon in the bowl as well
And a great hunk of fine old cheese.’