Morus, Huw

(1622-1709)

   Welsh poet, was born at Pont y Meibion, in the valley of the Ceiriog, Denbighshire. For most of his life he worked on the family farm and was a warden of the Llansilin parish church, Powys. He won a great reputation as a composer of ballads, carols, and occasional verse. Next to the love poems the most familiar are those on political subjects. A staunch Royalist and a supporter of the Church of England, he satirised the roundhead preachers and soldiers, sometimes in allegory and sometimes without any disguise. In 1660 he wrote "Elegy upon Oliver's Men" and "Welcome to General Monk." He supported William of Orange over James II. He died unmarried and was buried at Llansilin. Poems by Huw Morus were included in the collection of songs printed for Foulk Owens in 1686 and reprinted (as Carolau a Dyriau Duwiol) in 1696 and 1729. The Rev. Walter Davies (Gwallter Mechain) published Eos Ceiriog (1823) in two volumes, which included 147 poems by Morus. Some of his poems: "DeathBed Confession," "In Praise of a Girl," "Quick, Death!" "Thick Snow."

   Sources: British Literature to the Restoration (http://www.tcnj.edu/Morus, Huwgraham/LIT251fall05.htm). Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. George Borrow: Wild Wales, CHAPTER XX, Huw Morus (http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/b/borrow/george/wild/chapter20.html). 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. The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Celtic Psaltery, by Alfred Perceval, eBook (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14232/14232.txt).