Cara Wallia Derelicta

David Jones’ lettering, as illustrated by the above example, is very much a visual ‘showing forth’ of literary, cultural and spiritual concerns. It makes present in concrete form, makes a ‘shape of meaning’ out of the materials the artist has to hand, of things that are important to him. First there is the showing forth of language. Then of literary and historical reference. Finally of the design itself. Typically, David Jones would use elements in his inscriptions from Welsh, Latin and English to convey the historical elements- Celtic, Roman and Germanic - that he saw as contributing to the historical background of Britain and the whole of Europe. Here only Welsh and Latin are used to emphasise the continuity of succession between the early Welsh princes and the Roman Empire, a succession brought to an end by the death of Llywelyn in 1282 and his replacement as prince of Wales by the son of the King of England. In the inscription above the Welsh from the elegy written by Gruffudd ap yr Ynad Coch following the killing of Llywelyn, sets the theme for the piece. But it is bound around with other Welsh words from Brut y Tywysogion and Latin both from Virgil and of David Jones’ own devising.

These are the lines at the top and bottom which frame the piece. David Jones rendered them himself in English as "Dear Wales, all buggered up" (though 'forsaken' would be a more literal translation) at the top and "since Winter 1282" at the bottom. This captures the sentiment of the elegy that Llywelyn's death was an unmitigated disaster and an entire end of things for Wales and the Welsh. As the words from the Brut set down here put it: "on the eleventh day of December ... all the Welsh were cast down". The theme is further developed and modulated to a more universal context by the Latin from Vergil's Aeneid: "And the end of the days of the ineluctible time of Troy has come". Not only does this provide a parallel for the sense of enormity of the death of Llywelyn and a comparison with that of Hector and its consequences for Troy, but it also evokes the whole range of associations about the legendary founding of Britain by Brutus as set down by Geoffrey of Monmouth. Note, these are not specifically included, but are part of the associative matter that the technique of allusive construction (pursued by David Jones both in his artistic and his literary works) makes possible.

Only then do we come to the words of the Elegy: "A Leader's head, a dragon's head upon him, head of fair, stubborn Llywelyn, a shock to the world that an iron stake should be through it." Further words from the Elegy appear along the side of the inscription: "There is no counsel; no lock, no opening". Moving from content to design, notice how certain letters are given prominence, how colour highlights certain words. This is slightly problematic as most reproductions of this piece seem to have mispresented the colour balance, shifting green to red for instance. And no reproduction of his paintings quite captures the translucence that the large amount of chinese white that he used as a base gives them. But it is still possible to appreciate the way the colours change to emphasise certain phrases and to see the way that some letters stand out from the crowded lines, much more crowded than some of his other inscriptions. Somehow, in spite of this, the whole thing has a perfect balance about it, hanging together as the letters jostle for position and find an equilibrium of their own. Form, content and allusive meaning are all perfectly matched.

In his play Buchedd Garmon Saunders Lewis presents the ruler of Britain , Emrys Wledig, as inviting Garmon (St Germanus) , a bishop visiting Britain from Gaul to combat the pelagian heresy, to help in defending the island from his enemies. The play was an experiment in writing free verse drama which explains why the passage from it in the lettering above reads more like poetry than anything else. Emrys begins by quoting a biblical parable then turning it to suit his own purposes. Here is a rough translation of it:

Wales is a vineyard given into my care, my country

to be passed on to my children and the children of my children,

an eternal heritage.

And look at the pigs rushing over it and trampling it.

Now I call upon my friends,

commoners and scholars.

Come with me to the breach: stand with me in the gap

to keep for the ages to come the purity which was.

Saunders Lewis was one of those anomalies: a defender of a culture of which he was an unrepresentative member. A convert to catholicism in a country where the cultural elite were overwhelmingly non-conformist protestants, he nevertheless came to the fore as a leader, though often taking his people where they were reluctant to follow. Born the son of a Calvinistic-methodist minister in Liverpool he became, in many ways, the conscience of Welsh-speaking Wales as well as its prophet in the wilderness. In 1936, along with two other members of the Welsh Nationalist Party (subsequently Plaid Cymru) which he had founded, he entered the grounds of an RAF Bombing School which had been controversially built on a site of Welsh cultural importance. The three of them set a shed alight then waited for police to arrive to arrest them. A jury in Caernarfon failed to agree a verdict, and while awaiting a re-trial in London he wrote the play Buchedd Garmon. By the time of it’s first broadcast on the radio he was in prison.

The appearance of this passage as a visually present text of lettering, its use by organisations like Cymdeithas yr Iaith (The Welsh Language Society) as a rallying call and its prevalence amongst those who may never have seen or read the play attest its importance as a cultural artifact.

As is the lettering. This visual art form is particularly apt in Wales where poetry is so highly valued. The piece above by Tegwen Jones is clearly influenced by the work of David Jones whose lettering (see example at the head of this blog)  is more widely known outside Wales. At a local level I have on my wall at home part of a poem by a local poet. It is from an awdl for which he won the Chair at the National Eisteddfod for a poem in the strict metres. In honour of this achievement he was presented with an extract from the poem in lettering at a ceremony in the village hall and those present were able to order a print of the original which evocatively describes a cold winter day in the local woods. The function of such lettering in visually representing language goes some way towards making words more concretely present.

It is an art form which is not given wide prominence, but one for which I have a great affection.