Christof25 Sep 2002

Why do all the best Welsh poets write in English even when, like R.S. Thomas, their first langauge is Welsh? It's a vexed question - I looked at this in my thesis on Edward Thomas and couldn't really come up with one answer. The Welsh language is under siege, in literature at least, and has adopted a very insular mentality. The eisteddfod is such a retrograde institution, but what is the way forward? I like your poem. Speaks the very small bit of Welsh in me.