Lewis, Saunders

(1893-1985)

   Born into a Welsh family living in Cheshire, he was studying English and French at Liverpool University when the First World War broke out. After serving as an officer with the South Wales Borderers he returned to university to graduate in English. In 1922 he was appointed as a lecturer in Welsh at the University College of Wales, Swansea, and in 1925 he co-founded the Welsh National Party, now Plaid Cymru. A talk he was invited to give on BBC Radio in 1930-banned by BBC officials as likely to inflame Welsh national sympathies - was subsequently published by Plaid Genedlaethol Cymru in 1931. In 1936, along with two other activists, he was involved in an arson attack on an air force base near Pwllheli, North Wales, which resulted in a nine month prison sentence and the loss of his academic post. Until he was appointed senior lecturer in Welsh at Cardiff in 1952, he supported himself through journalism, farming and teaching in schools. Among his many works are books on literary criticism. Some of his poems: "Ascension Thursday," "Mary Magdalene," "The Deluge 1939," "The Pine," "To the Good Thief."

   Sources: Life and Works of Saunders Lewis (http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/reference/saunders_lewis). Microsoft Encarta 2006 (DVD). Microsoft Corporation, 2006. Saunders Lewis, "The Banned Wireless Talk on Welsh Nationalism." (http://www.gtj.org.uk/en/item1/14563). Selected Poems of Saunders Lewis, translated by Joseph P. Clancy. University of Wales Press, 1993. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Oxford Book of Welsh Verse in English. Gwyn Jones, ed. Oxford University Press, 1977. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia).