Morris, Sir Lewis

(1833-1907)

   Welsh poet, born at Carmarthen, where his father - grandson of the poet Lewis Morys (see entry)-was a solicitor. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth's grammar school, Carmarthen, Cowbridge School, South Glamorgan, then at Sherborne College, Dorset. He graduated literæ humaniores in 1855 from Jesus College, Oxford, then M.A. in 1858. He was called to the bar in 1861, and practiced, chiefly in conveyance. He published the series, Songs of Two Worlds in 1871, with another in 1874, and a third in 1878. In 1878 he became one of the honorary secretaries to the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, then treasurer, then vice president from 1896 until he died. In 1906 he was awarded the honorary degree of doctor of literature from the recently formed University of Wales, and was knighted in 1895. He died at Penbryn and was buried at Llangunnor, Carmarthan. Some of his poems: "A Heathen Hymn," "At a Country Wedding," "Christmas 1898," "From an American Sermon," "Llyn Y Morwynion," "Lydstep Caverns," "The Beginnings of Faith," "The Epic of Hades," "When I Am Dead."

   Sources: A Treasury of Poems for Worship and Devotion. Charles L. Wallis, ed. Harper, 1959. Anglo-Welsh Poetry, 1480-1980. Raymond Garlick and Roland Mathias, ed. Poetry Wales Press, 1984. Anglo-Welsh Poetry, 1480-1990. Raymond Garlick and Roland Mathias, eds. Poetry Wales Press, 1993. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Selections from the Works of Sir Lewis Morris. Kegan Paul, 1897. 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 Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.