Thomas Evan Nicholas (Niclas y Glais)
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Thomas Evan Nicholas (known as Niclas y Glais) was a Welsh language poet (6 October 1879, Blaunwaun Felen in Llanfyrnach parish, north Pembrokeshire - 19 April 1971, Aberystwyth[1]).
He was a poet, preacher, radical and champion of the disadvantaged of society.[2]
He was a friend to James Keir Hardie, the founder of the Independent Labour Party and in 1915 he delivered the funeral service at his funeral.
He was a prolific poet. The main themes of his poetry were injustice, the battle between the working class and the power of capital, and pacifism. He was incarcerated at Swansea prison for his socialist views and the books of poetry, "Canu'r Carchar" (Prison Songs) and "Llygad y Drws" (referring to the eye-hole in the prison cell door) were written while in prison.
His socialist beliefs led him to oppose Welsh nationalism in his early years, but in his later years he embraced patriotic beliefs.
He left Pembrokeshire in 1897 and worked briefly in Treherbert in the Rhondda.
Around the turn of the 20th century, he entered the ministry and he received his three-year training for this at the Gwynfryn Academy (Ysgol y Gwynfryn), Ammanford, under Watcyn Wyn (Watkin Hezekiah Williams) and Gwili John Jenkins.[3]
[edit] Poetry
- Salmau'r Werin (1909)
- Cerddi Gwerin (1912)
- Cerddi Rhyddid (1914)
- Dros Eich Gwlad (1920)
- Terfysgoedd Daear (1939)
- Llygad y Drws (1940)
- Canu'r Carchar (1942)
- Y Dyn a'r Gaib (1944)
- Dryllio'r Delwau (1941)
- Rwy'n Gweld o Bell (1963)
[edit] References
- ^ Ammanford, Carmarthenshire web site
- ^ ibid. Introduction
- ^ ibid. Chapter 1.
