Dinistr Jerusalem a Cherddi Eraill (Eben Fardd)

Llithrig yw'r palmant llathrwyn
Môr gwaed ar y marmor gwyn.

Eben Fardd was the bardic name of the noted poet Ebenezer Thomas (1802-1863). Originally from Llanarmon, Gwynedd, he worked as a schoolmaster in a number of schools in Eifionydd and the Llŷn peninsula as well as other minor professions.

His interest in poetry was obvious from an early age and his first Eisteddfod success came in 1824 when he won the Powys Eisteddfod in Welshpool with his awdl Dinistr Jeruslaem, his greatest and most famous poem. Numerous other successes came his way over the next few decades; he was also a fine hymn-writer. He died shortly after the establishment of the National Eisteddfod and never won any of its major prizes despite competing unsuccessfully in 1862 with his awdl on Y Flwyddyn.

Eben Fardd was one of the greatest and most important Welsh poets of his age, and a master of cynghanedd. In the words of critic Thomas Parry, "it can be said that he had more of the nature of a true poet than almost any of the nineteenth century's Eisteddfod poets." His early work represents the high water mark of descriptive classicism in Welsh, and his later work the beginnings of Romanticism.

This selection of his work includes three of his eisteddfod awdlau and about two dozen other shorter poems reflecting the talents of the poet from Eifionydd.

Paperback, 136pp.