Statue of Hedd Wyn, Trawsfynydd

Image: © Meirion Taken: 21 Mar 2012

Hedd Wyn was the bardic pen-name of Trawsfynydd-born shepherd-poet Ellis Humphrey Evans, who was born on the 13th January 1887. He was the eldest of eleven children and from an early age showed a natural gift for writing poetry. He took part in eisteddfodau from the age of 19 and won his first chair at Bala in 1907. He later went on to win the chair again in the 1913 and 1915 eisteddfodau. He is best remembered as a Welsh language war-poet, with his poem , Rhyfel ("War"), being one of his best remembered works. In June 1917 he was sent to France as part of the 15th Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers. On the 31st July 1917, Hedd Wyn was killed in the battle of Passchendaele at Pilckem Ridge. In the time between his arrival at the front and his death Hedd Wyn had written his eisteddfod entry, Yr Arwr ("The Hero"), and had sent it to the judges. At the eisteddfod on the 6th September 1917 Hedd Wyn's Yr Arwr won the chair, but as the author had been killed the chair was draped in a black sheet as a sign of mourning. In 1992 the life of the poet became the subject of an award winning biopic called 'Hedd Wyn'.

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