D. Gwenallt Jones Plasau’r Brenin (1934) and ‘Dartmoor’ (1941)

Abstract

Plasau’r Brenin (PB) is the first work of prison literature that is specifically Welsh. According to the scholarly literature, its author, David James Jones, often simply known by his bardic nom de plume ‘Gwenallt’ (Stephens, 1986), spent the greater part of two years of his life in English prisons at HMP Wormwood Scrubs and Dartmoor between May 1917 and May 1919 (Lewis, 1969: 54; Morgan, D., 1972: 9; Owen-Rees, 1978: 52; Roberts, 2009; Thomas, G., 1984: 39) as an uncompromising ‘absolutist’ (Wiliams, 1996: 74) conscientious objector, pacifist (Evans, 1991; James, 2006; McGuinness, 2005; Owen, 1992) and member of the No-Conscription Fellowship (Rae, 1970). Subsequent to his release from prison he developed a writing and academic career as one of the greatest of Welsh-language poets (Jones, R. M., 1975; Allchin, Morgan and Thomas, 2000; James, 2001; Meredith, 1974; Roberts, K., 1978; Rowlands, D., 1982), but it was not until 1934 that he wrote anything at all about this period of incarceration namely his quasi-autobiographical novel, Plasau’r Brenin [The King’s Mansions] (1934a). This work of prose was followed in 1941 by the poem ‘Dartmoor’, a reflection upon his time in prison there (James, 2001: xxiv and 514–515; Rhys, 1997: 158). This very substantial delay may well mean that what the novel and the poem lack in immediacy is compensated for by retrospective understanding and creative maturity — Gwenallt was, after all, barely eighteen years old when he was imprisoned.

Nid oedd yr un darlun ar y muriau. Cerdyn rheolau’r car-char yn unig a hongiai ar un ohonynt. Darllenodd Myrddin Tomos y rheolau drwyddynt yn fanwl, ac o ddiffyg llenyddiaeth amgenach i’w darllen, darllenodd hwynt lawer gwaith ar ôl hynny, hyd oni wyddai hwy ar gof. Dyma’r rheolau: 1. Rhaid i garcharorion gadw distawrwydd […].

[Translation] There wasn’t a single picture on the walls. Only a card with the prison rules hung on one of them. Myrddin Tomos read through the rules in detail, and because of the lack of alternative reading material, he read them many times after that, until he knew them off by heart. Here are the rules: 1. The prisoners must maintain silence […] (Plasau’r Brenin, p.50).