ore be fairly compared with that of the earlier
poets. Ceiriog, of course, is the greater name of the three, and is to
Wales what Robert Burns was to Scotland, sharing with him his poetical
faults and merits. He is called the national poet of Wales, because he
was the first to sing of the land and the nation he knew, and he cast
the glamour of his genius over the life of the _gwerin_, the peasants of
Wales.

Somewhat higher flights were essayed by Gwilym Marles (1834-1879) and
Islwyn (1832-1878). Their poetry is Wordsworthian and mystical, and well
exemplifies the love of metaphysics and speculation which is growing in
Wales. Islwyn's _Y storm_, though uneven, is full of powerful passages,
and he was a master of blank verse. Of the remaining poets of the period
living in 1908, the most distinguished was the Rev. Elvet Lewis in the
older generation, and Eifion Wyn in the younger--both writers of lyrics.
Other lyrical poets of the first class are Gwylfa and Silyn Roberts. In
the old metres, two poets stand out prominent above all others--J.
Morris Jones and T. Gwynn Jones. The _Awdl i Famon_ of the former, and
the _Ymadawiad Arthur_ of the latter, gave reason to believe that Welsh
poetry was only entering on its golden period.

AUTHORITIES.--_General_.--T. Stephens, _Literature of the Kymry_
(London[2], 1876); L.C. Stern in _Die Kultur d. Gegenwart_, i. xi. 1
pp. 114-130; Gweirydd ap Rhys. _Hanes Llenyddiaeth Gymreig, 1300-1650_
(London, 1885); C. Ashton, _Hanes Llenyddiaeth Gymreig, 1651-1850_
(Liverpool, 1893); J. Loth, _Les Mabinogion_ (2 vols., Paris, 1889);
E. Anwyl, _Prolegomena to Welsh Poetry_ (London, 1905), also on the
Mabinogi in _Zeitschr. f. celt. Phil._ i. 277 ff.; I.B. John, _The
Mabinogion_ (London, 1901); T. Shankland, _Diwygwyr Cymru_, reprinted
from _Seren Gomer_ (1899); W.J. Gruffydd, _Foreign Influences on Welsh
Literature in the XIV. and XV. Centuries_, Guild of Welsh Graduates
(1908); Gwilym Lleyn, _Llyfryddiaeth y Cymry_ (Llanidloes, 1867);
Robert Williams, _Enwogion Cymru_ (Llandovery, 1852); Owen Jones,
_Cymru_ (2 vols., London, 1875); D.W. Nash, _History of the Battle of
Cattraeth_ (Tenby, 1861); _Encyclopaedia Cambrensis_ (10 vols.,[2]
1889-1896); C. Ashton, _Bywyd ac amserau yr Esgob Morgan_ (Treherbert,
1891); J. Foulkes, _J. Ceiriog Hughes, ei fywyd a'i waith_ (Liverpool,
1887); J.M. Jones, _Llenyddiaeth fy ngwlad_ (Holywell, 1893); H. Elvet
Lewis, _Sweet