Rev. John Dyfnallt Owen (7 April 1873 – 28 December 1956) was a Welsh poet, and served as

Archdruid Archdruid () is the title used by the presiding official of Gorsedd Cymru, the Gorsedd. The Archdruid presides over the most important ceremonies at the National Eisteddfod of Wales including the Crowning of the Bard, the award of the and the C ...

of the National Eisteddfod of Wales from 1954 until his death. He was often known simply by his bardic name, "Dyfnallt".

Personal life

Owen was born in Llangiwg, near

Pontardawe Pontardawe () is a town and a community in the Swansea Valley (Welsh: ''Cwmtawe'') in Wales. With a population of 6,832, it comprises the electoral wards of Pontardawe and Trebanos. A town council is elected. Pontardawe forms part of the county ...

, Glamorgan, the son of David see 1881 census; father is variously David Rees or David John Owen or variations, owing to his parents being unmarried and being raised largely by his grandparents; father is 'David' on birth certificate and Angharad Owen, and was brought up by his grandparents because of the death of his mother when he was an infant. He married Annie Hopkin in 1904 and had two children.

Education and career

He worked for a short period as a coal miner, then attended Bala Bangor College. Having been ordained as a

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

minister, he became a minister at

Trawsfynydd Trawsfynydd (; Welsh for "across hemountain") is a linear village in Gwynedd, Wales, near Llyn Trawsfynydd reservoir, and adjacent to the A470 north of Bronaber and Dolgellau and 10 km (6 miles) south of Blaenau Ffestiniog. The total com ...

(1898-1902) and

Deiniolen Deiniolen (; ; ) is a village in Gwynedd, Wales, at the foot of Elidir Fawr, in Llanddeiniolen Community. Deiniolen has views over Caernarfon (7 miles away) and on a clear day, Holyhead Mountain and occasionally the Wicklow Mountains in Irelan ...

(1902-5) before moving to Sardis Chapel at

Pontypridd () ( colloquially: Ponty) is a town and a community in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. Geography comprises the electoral wards of , Hawthorn, Pontypridd Town, 'Rhondda', Rhydyfelin Central/Ilan ( Rhydfelen), Trallwng ( Trallwn) and Treforest (). ...

in 1905. In 1910 he was inducted as minister of Lammas Street Chapel, Carmarthen. He remained there until his retirement from the ministry in 1947. During his time there he was elected to the Carmarthen Board of Guardians in 1919. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he served as a chaplain in France. In 1927, he became editor of the Welsh-language journal ''Y Tyst''. In 1936 he became President of the Union of Welsh Independents (Chapels). Like all Archdruids, he was a winner of a major poetry prize at the National Eisteddfod, in his case the crown at the 1907 Eisteddfod in Swansea. He joined the

Celtic Congress The International Celtic Congress ( br, Ar C'hendalc'h Keltiek, kw, An Guntelles Keltek, gv, Yn Cohaglym Celtiagh, gd, A' Chòmhdhail Cheilteach, ga, An Chomhdháil Cheilteach, cy, Y Gyngres Geltaidd) is a cultural organisation that seeks to ...

in 1908 and maintained a lifelong interest in Breton affairs, writing a book in 1934 and was part of the Welsh delegation investigating French abuses of the Breton movement after WWII. He hosted the Breton Literary figure

Roparz Hemon Louis-Paul Némo (18 November 1900 – 29 June 1978), better known by the pseudonym Roparz Hemon, was a Breton author and scholar of Breton expression. He was the author of numerous dictionaries, grammars, poems and short stories. He also fou ...

at his own home when he fled France in 1946. He gained an hon. M.A. degree from the University of Wales in 1953. At the age of 80 he was elected Archdruid of Wales at Rhyl in 1954.

Works

* ''Myfyrion a chaneuon maes y tân'' (1918), (poems and meditations on his experiences on the battlefield) * ''O ben tir Llydaw'' (1934) * ''Min yr hwyr'' (1934) * ''Y greal a cherddi eraill'' (1946) * ''Rhamant a Rhyddid'' (1952) * ''Ar y tŵr'' (1953)

Personal life

Education and career

Works

References

Other reading