Hedd Wyn – Un o Feirdd Rhyfel Cymru  One of the War Poets of Wales

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Ganwyd Ellis Humphrey Evans ar y 13fed o Ionawr 1887 ym Mhen Lan yng nghanol Trawsfynydd, Sir Feirionydd.  Roedd yr hynaf o unarddeg o blant a anwyd i Evan ac Mary Evans.  Yn 1887 symydodd y teulu i Yr Ysgwrn, fferm rhyw ddau fillitir tu allan i Traws.  Cafodd Ellis adysg drwy’r ysgol ac yr ysgol Sul ond bu rhaid iddo adel yr ysgol pan yr oedd yn pedwar ar ddeg i ddechrau gweithio fel bugail ar y fferm. O oed ifanc roedd yn amlwg fod gab Elllis dalent am farddoniaeth. Roedd eisoes wedi cyfansoddi ei gerddi cyntaf erbyn un ar ddeg oed. Cymerodd ran mewn eisteddfodau o pedwar ar bymtheg oed ac enillodd ei gadair gyntaf yn Penbedw ym 1917. Ym 1910, cymerodd yr enw barddol Hedd Wyn.  Enillodd Gadeiriau yn 1913 a 1915, ac yn yr un flwyddyn ysgrifennodd ei gerdd gyntaf ar gyfer Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru-Eryri, awdl i’r Wyddfa.

Ym 1916, roedd rhaid i teulu Yr Ysgwrn  anfon un o’u meibion i ymuno â’r Fyddin Brydeinig er fod ffermio yn waith o bwysigrwydd cenedlaethol. Roedd yn well gan Ellis ei fod o yn mynd yn htrach na’i ei frawd iau Robert. Yn Chwefror 1917, daeth i Ngwersyll Litherland, Lerpwl, i gael ei hyfforddiant ond yn  Mawrth 1917, galwodd y llywodraeth am weithwyr fferm i helpu i aredig ac mi gaeth  llawer o filwyr eu rhyddhau dros dro. Cafodd Ellis fynd adref ac mi dreuliodd y rhan fwyaf o’i seibiant yn gweithio ar yr awdl Yr Arwr (“Yr Arwr”), ei gyflwyniad ar gyfer yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol. Aarhosodd Elis am saith diwrnod ychwanegol ac mi wnaeth hyn ei wneuthur yn enciliwr.   Felly daeth yr heddlu milwrol i’w nôl a mynd ag ef i’r carchar yn Blaenau. Oddi yno, teithiodd i’r rhyfel yng Ngwlad Belg. Oherwydd iddo adael ar frys anghofiodd y gerdd ar y bwrdd, felly ysgrifennodd hi eto ar y daith. Oherwydd hnny mae dau gopi …… un yn Aberystwyth ac un ym Mangor ”

Ym mis Mehefin 1917, ymunodd Hedd Wyn â’r 15fed Bataliwn Ffiwsilwyr Brenhinol Cymreig yn Fléchin, Ffrainc. Yny ffosydd yno fe orffenodd ei gofnod Eisteddfod Genedlaethol a’i lofnodi “Fleur de Lis”.  Cafodd draffaeth cael y fyddin i’w gyrru oherwydd ei bod wedi ysgrifennu mewn Cymraeg a doedd neb yn gwybod be oedd Ellis wedi ei ‘sgwenu. Yn y diwedd Fe’i hanfonwyd drwy’r Post Brenhinol ar 15 Gorffennaf 1917 ychydig cyn diwrnod olau y gystadleuaeth. Yr un diwrnod, bu’r 15fed Bataliwn yn cael ei alw i Frwydr Passchendaele.
Dechreuodd yr ymosodiad ar 31 Gorffennaf 1917 am 3:50 a.m.l laddwyd Hedd Wyn hanner ffordd ar draws Pilckem a ddaliwyd yn y stumog gan gregyn trwyn. Yn fuan wedi iddo gael ei anafu, cafodd Hedd Wyn ei gario i swydd cymorth cyntaf. Yn dal yn ymwybodol, gofynnodd i’r meddyg “Ydych chi’n meddwl y byddaf yn byw?” Er ei bod yn amlwg nad oedd ganddo fawr o siawns o oroesi. Bu farw Preifat Ellis Evans tua 11:00 a.m.
Ar y 6ed o Fedi 1917, cynhaliwyd seremoni Cadeirio’r Bard yn yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol, a gynhaliwyd y flwyddyn honno ym Mharc Birkenhead, Lloegr. Roedd David Lloyd George, Prif Weinidog Prydain – ei hun yn Gymro sy’n siarad Cymraeg – yn bresennol. Ar ôl i’r beirniaid gyhoeddi mai’r enillydd oedd y cofnod a gyflwynwyd o dan y ffugenw Fleur de Lys, swniwyd yr utgyrnau i’r awdur i adnabod eu hunain. Ar ôl tri gwŷr o’r fath, cyhoeddodd Archdderwydd Dyfed yn ddifrifol fod yr enillydd wedi cael ei ladd ar waith chwe wythnos ynghynt. Yna cafodd y gadair wag ei ddraenio mewn taflen ddu. Fe’i cyflwynwyd i rieni Evans yn yr un cyflwr,

Claddwyd Ellis H. Evans ym Mynwent Wood Artillery, ger Boezinge. Ar ôl cyflwyno deiseb i Gomisiwn Beddau Rhyfel y Gymanwlad yn dilyn y rhyfel, rhoddwyd y geiriau ychwanegol Y Prifardd Hedd Wyn

Ym mis Awst 2014, cafodd Parc Coffa Cymru, Ypres ei ddadorchuddio yn Pilckem Ridge ger Ypres. Mae’r gofeb rhyfel yn agos at y fan lle’r oedd Hedd Wyn wedi cael ei anafu’n farwol ym mis Gorffennaf 1917 yn ystod Brwydr Passchendaele.

Dyma un o’i gerddi mwya adnabyddus    –  Rhyfel

Gwae fi fy myw mewn oes mor ddreng,
A Duw ar drai ar orwel pell;
O’i ôl mae dyn, yn deyrn a gwreng,
Yn codi ei awdurdod hell.

Pan deimlodd fyned ymaith Dduw
Cyfododd gledd i ladd ei frawd;
Mae sw^n yr ymladd ar ein clyw,
A’i gysgod ar fythynnod tlawd.

Mae’r hen delynau genid gynt
Yng nghrog ar gangau’r helyg draw,
A gwaedd y bechgyn lond y gwynt,
A’u gwaed yn gymyg efo’r glaw.

Ellis Humphrey Evans was born on 13 January 1887 in Pen Lan, a house in the middle of Trawsfynydd, Meirionydd North Wales He was the eldest of eleven children born to Evan and Mary Evans. In the spring of 1887, the family moved to the isolated hill-farm of Yr Ysgwrn, a few miles from Trawsfynydd.

Ellis was given a basic education at elementary and Sunday school but left school at fourteen to begin  work as a shepherd on his father’s farm. His love for language was already apparent and he held a talent for poetry.  He  had already composed his first poems by the age of eleven.  He took pa festivals from the age of 19 and won his first Chair at Penbedw in 1917. In 1910, he took the name Hedd Wyn.  He won Chairs in 1913 and 1915 and in that same year he wrote his first poem for the National Eisteddfod.

In 1916, the Evans family had to send one of their sons to join the Army despite farming being a work of national importance. Ellis enlisted rather than his younger brother Robert. In February 1917, he received his training at Litherland Camp,Liverpool and in March 1917, the government called for farm workers to help with ploughing and many soldiers were temporarily released. Hedd Wyn was given seven weeks’ leave. He spent most of his free time working on the poem Yr Arwr (“The Hero”), his submission for the National Eisteddfod. According to his nephew, Gerald Williams,  “It was a wet year in 1917. He came back for fourteen days leave and wrote the poem, Yr Arwr, on the table by the fire. As it was such a wet year, he stayed for another seven days. This extra seven days made him a deserter So the police came to fetch him from the hayfield and took him to the jail at Blaenau. From there he travelled to the war in  Belgium. Because he left in such a hurry he forgot the poem on the table, so he wrote it again on the journey. So there are two copies: one in Aberystwyth and one in Bangor.

In June 1917, Hedd Wyn joined the 15th Battalion  at Fléchin, France  where he finished his National Eisteddfod entry and signed it “Fleur de Lys”. It was sent by post on 15 July 1917 after a battle with the military who were wary of a letter sent in a language they didn’t understand.  It was sent just in time to be considered for the chair.  That same day, the 15th Battalion marched towards the major offensive which would become known as the Battle of Passchendaele.

The attack began on 31 July 1917 at 3:50 a.m. Heavy rain turned the battlefield into a swamp. Hedd Wyn was killed half way across Pilckem caught in the stomach by a nosecap shell.  Soon after being wounded, Hedd Wyn was carried to a first-aid post. Still conscious, he asked the doctor “Do you think I will live?” though it was clear that he had little chance of surviving. Private Ellis Evans died at about 11:00 a.m.

On 6 September 1917, the ceremony of the Charing of the Bard took place at the National Eisteddfod, held that year in Birkenhead.  After the adjudicators announced the entry submitted under the pseudonym Fleur de Lys was the winner, the trumpets were sounded for the author to identify themselves. After three such summons, the Archdruid solemnly announced the winner had been killed in action six weeks earlier. The empty chair was then draped in a black sheet and  was delivered to the parents of Ellis in the same condition, “The festival in tears and the poet in his grave,” as Archdruid Dyfed said.

Ellis H. Evans was buried at Artillery Wood Cemetery, near Boezinge. After a petition was submitted to the Commonwealth Graves Commission following the war, the headstone of E. H. Evans was given the additional words Y PrifarddHedd Wyn (English: “The Chief Bard, Hedd Wyn”).

In August 2014, the Welsh Memorial was unveiled at Pilcken Ridge near Ypres. This stands close to the spot where Hedd Wyn was mortally wounded in July 1917 during the Battle of Passchendaele.

One of his most famous poems is ‘ Rhyfel’     –       ‘War’ .