Owen Wynne Jones


Owen Wynne Jones, often known by his bardic name of Glasynys, was a Welsh clergyman, folklorist, poet, novelist and short-story writer.

Life

Owen Wynne Jones was born at a house called Ty'n-y-ffrwd, in the village of Rhostryfan, near Caernarfon. At the age of eight, he began to read Welsh literature while recovering from an injury to his leg, and at the age of ten, he was sent to work in the quarry, but returned to school in the village of Y Fron, near Caernarfon, at the age of seventeen, and later began work as a schoolmaster in Clynnog Fawr on the Llŷn Peninsula, and in Llanfachreth, Merionethshire. He began to assist Eben Fardd in arranging local eisteddfodau.
In 1860 he was ordained as an Anglican clergyman, and worked as a deacon in Llangristiolus and Llanfaethlu on Anglesey. Then he moved to Pontlotyn in Monmouthshire, and later to Newport, where he co-edited he periodical Y Glorian with William Thomas. He left the periodical, moved to Porthmadog, Llŷn where he married, and settled in Tywyn, where he died at the age of forty-two.

Work

Owen Wynne Jones wrote poetry, collected in Fy Oriau Hamddenol, Lleucu Llwyd and Yr Wyddfa, historical novels including Dafydd Llwyd, neu Dyddiau Cromwel, articles and letters which were published in Y Brython, Baner y Groes, Y Geninen and Yr Herald Gymraeg, and short stories, retelling folk tales and describing folk customs, which appeared in the anthology, Cymru Fu.

Critical Reception

An essay, 'Welsh Fairy Tales' by John Rhys, draws freely on the work of Owen Wynne Jones, and comments on the likely extent to which he combined traditional stories from various sources with his own imaginative treatment of his material. Saunders Lewis, in his introduction to a selection of the short stories, Straeon Glasynys, confirms that Owen Wynne Jones was an artist more than a critical scholar of folklore, but affirms his imaginative vision of a Welsh people united and enriched by folklore and customs. Kate Roberts considers his life and accomplishments alongside those of Richard Hughes Williams in her essay, Dau Lenor o Ochr Moeltryfan, and a selection of his work is translated by Rob Mimpriss.

Works