THE WELSH EISTEDDFOD.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1259, 14 October 1911, Page 10

THE WELSH EISTEDDFOD.

Nothing moro typical of the democratia o atmosphere that envelops tho Welsh Eisteddfod and of the lyrical temper of tho peasantry of Wales could bo imagined ) than tho award of tho chief bardic prizo - J™. 10 .' 1 tow ma <lo at Carmarthen to Gwilym £ Coinog, a man who began life as a farm servant, brought up a large family, and is now engaged in the honest but un- , rommiitic business of selling butter and eggs in his nativo valley. Whether his t odo on Edward VII, which brings to his cottage the coveted bardic ohair, will over count outside tho Eisteddfod Pavilion is . doubtful. Nor does it very much mat. ter. In any case, to write au odo within the limits of metro set bv tho Gorscdd authorities a man must bo highly skilled, in metrical gymnastics. AVhat docs mat- , ter is thai; the Eisteddfod should still bo tho means of br/nging into humdrum . lves glimpses to make them less forlorn, and of keeping alivo this old Coltio sensibility to the spiritual side of things, tutinvated people havo long ago ocascd to laugh at tho Eisteddfod. To-day one is more inclined lo envy a nation which finds Us poets among its working peasantry, and can lose itself in its native musio and verso as whole-heartedly os tho Englishman loses himself in n final cup-tio.