POWEL, JOHN or SION (died 1767), a weaver-poet
Date of death: 1767
Gender: Male
Occupation: weaver-poet
Area of activity: Business and Industry; Poetry
Author: Ray Looker
Of Rhyd-yr-Eirin, in the parish of Llansannan, Denbighshire. According to Owen Williams, Awduron Sir Ddinbych, he was born in 1731. It is said that he was a sexton also. One of the closest friends of Evan Evans (Ieuan Fardd) when the latter was curate of Llanfair Talhaiarn, he also regarded him as his bardic teacher. A number of his poems are found in Swansea MS. 1 ('Y Piser Hir'), now in N.L.W., these being ten cywyddau and one awdl. They include a poem on Christ's passion, one complaining of the contemporary neglect of old poetry, an elegy to a greyhound, poems addressed to Siôn ap Rhisiart of Bryniog, Ieuan Owain of Dyffryn Aur, Rhobert Burchinshaw, two to Ieuan Brydydd Hir, and one to Dafydd Jones, Trefriw, requesting a copy of Y Cydymaith Diddan. This last cywydd and the letter, written 13 October 1766, which accompanied it, is published in Llythyrau at Ddafydd Jones o Drefriw (ed., G. J. Williams). Other cywyddau composed by him are found in NLW MS 562B , and a poem in free metre in Cwrtmawr MS 230B . No details regarding his life are available, but it is known that he was buried in Llansannan churchyard on 7 May 1767. The elegy composed by Ieuan Fardd to him is found in the poet's own hand in Panton MS. 2. See also under David Jones,, 1732 - 1782?.
Author
- Ray Looker
- NLW Archives: Cwrtmawr MS 230B (159)
- NLW Archives: NLW MS 562B (65, 85b, 214)
- Panton Manuscript at the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth 2 (127)
- Swansea Manuscript 1 (187-203)
- T. Gee, Gwaith y Parchedig Evan Evans (Ieuan Brydydd Hir) (Caernarfon 1876), 104
- Y Brython, v, 113
- Robert Ellis, Registers of the Parish of Llansannan 1667-1812 (Liverpool 1904)
- Geirlyfr Bywgraffiadol o Enwogion Cymru (1870)
- Aneurin Lewis, 'Evan Evans (Ieuan Fardd), 1731-88: hanes ei fywyd a'i gysylltiadau llenyddol' (M.A. thesis, University of Wales, 1950, now in N.L.W.)
- G. J. Williams, Llythyrau at Ddafydd Jones o Drefriw (The National Library of Wales Journal, Suppl. Ser. iii, no. ii)
Sources
- Wikidata: Q20804719
Additional Links
Published date: 1959
Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-RUU/1.0/
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