Rhyd Ddu

Village on the A4085, situated on the upper Gwyrfai at the W foot of Snowdon. The Welsh-language poet and essayist T. H. Parry-Williams was born (1887) at the school house (plaque) and educated at the village school, where his father was headmaster. These buildings have been converted by the county council into a residential centre, Canolfan Rhyd-ddu, which houses a permanent exhibition of the life and work of Parry-Williams. He first won recognition as a poet by gaining both chair and crown at the National Eisteddfod at Wrexham (1912) and at Bangor (1915). His first published work, Ysgrifau (Essays), appeared in 1928, followed by Cerddi (Poems, 1931), Olion (Vestiges, 1935), Synfyfyrion (Meditations, 1937), Lloffion (Gleanings, 1942), O'r Pedwar Gwynt (Out of the Four Winds, 1957), and Pensynnu (Musing, 1966). An anthology from previous volumes, Detholiad o Gerddi (A Selection of Poems), was published in 1972. The influence of his native Snowdonia predominates in his work, which is characterized by great flexibility of style, in the use of majestic literary language and the words and idioms of common speech. His later poetry was written in the form of the rhigwm, or sequence of irregular rhyming couplets. He wrote some of the finest sonnets in Welsh, and was also the first Welsh writer to make extensive use of the essay form. Parry-Williams was Professor of Welsh at Aberystwyth, and received many honours, including a knighthood in 1958. He was President of the Court of the Royal National Eisteddfod of Wales (1955–67) and President of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion (1961–9).