2009
SN2243 : Grave of Alun the bard
taken 17 years ago, near to Llechryd, Ceredigion/Sir Ceredigion, Wales

Grave of Alun the bard
John Blackwell was a native of North Wales who started out as a shoemaker's apprentice but became enthralled with Welsh poetry and history. He was sponsored to go to Oxford, was ordained and wrote under the bardic name Alun. He was vicar of Manordeifi from 1833 until his death in 1840.
There is also a commemorative tablet to him within the church.
See Link
His lyric poetry, in free metre, was influenced both the English romantic movement and by Methodist hymns. The last stanza of his ode to a nightingale (cf. Keats!) is translated thus:
Though the worry almost numbs her heart
She'll not complain
Nor tire her dear ones with distress --
Her smile hides her pain.
Nor ends her song the long night through
Until bright hope shall dawn;
Shining like an eye of gold
Through the clear lids of morn.
There is also a commemorative tablet to him within the church.
See Link
His lyric poetry, in free metre, was influenced both the English romantic movement and by Methodist hymns. The last stanza of his ode to a nightingale (cf. Keats!) is translated thus:
Though the worry almost numbs her heart
She'll not complain
Nor tire her dear ones with distress --
Her smile hides her pain.
Nor ends her song the long night through
Until bright hope shall dawn;
Shining like an eye of gold
Through the clear lids of morn.
