Editing Wales (section)

===Literature===
{{Main|Literature of Wales (Welsh language)|List of Welsh writers|Literature of Wales (English language)}}
[[File:Black Book of Carmarthen (f.4.r).jpg|thumb|Welsh poetry from the 13th-century [[Black Book of Carmarthen]].]]

Wales has one of the oldest unbroken literary traditions in Europe<ref name="Davies464">Davies (2008) p. 464</ref> going back to the sixth century and including [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]] and [[Gerald of Wales]], regarded as among the finest Latin authors of the Middle Ages.<ref name="Davies464" /> The earliest body of Welsh verse, by poets [[Taliesin]] and [[Aneirin]], survive not in their original form, but in much-changed, medieval versions.<ref name="Davies464" /> Welsh poetry and native lore and learning survived through the era of the [[Medieval Welsh literature#Poets of the Princes (c. 1100 – c. 1300)|Poets of the Princes]] ({{circa|1100}}–1280) and then the [[Medieval Welsh literature#Poets of the Nobility, or Cywyddwyr (c. 1300 – c. 1600)|Poets of the Gentry]] ({{circa|1350}}–1650). The former were professional poets who composed eulogies and elegies to their patrons while the latter favoured the [[cywydd]] metre.<ref name="Davies688-9">Davies (2008) pp. 688–689</ref> The period produced one of Wales's greatest poets, [[Dafydd ap Gwilym]].<ref>Davies (2008) p. 191</ref> After the Anglicisation of the gentry the tradition declined.<ref name="Davies688-9" />

Despite the extinction of the professional poet, the integration of the native elite into a wider cultural world did bring other literary benefits.<ref name="Davies465">Davies (2008) p. 465</ref> Renaissance scholars such as [[William Salesbury]] and [[John Davies (Mallwyd)|John Davies]] brought [[Renaissance humanism|humanist]] ideals from English universities.<ref name="Davies465" /> In 1588 [[William Morgan (Bible translator)|William Morgan]] became the first person to translate the [[Welsh Bible|Bible into Welsh]].<ref name="Davies465" /> From the 16th century the proliferation of the 'free-metre' verse became the most important development in Welsh poetry, but from the middle of the 17th century a host of imported accentual metres from England became very popular.<ref name="Davies465" /> By the 19th century the creation of a Welsh epic, fuelled by the eisteddfod, became an obsession with Welsh-language writers.<ref name="Davies466">Davies (2008) p. 466</ref> The output of this period was prolific in quantity but unequal in quality.<ref name="Williams121">{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=David |title=A Short History of Modern Wales |publisher=John Murray |year=1961 |location=London |page=121}}</ref> Initially excluded, religious denominations came to dominate the competitions, with bardic themes becoming scriptural and didactic.<ref name="Williams121" />

Developments in 19th-century Welsh literature include [[Lady Charlotte Guest]]'s translation into English of the Mabinogion, one of the most important medieval Welsh prose works of Celtic mythology. 1885 saw the publication of ''[[Rhys Lewis (novel)|Rhys Lewis]]'' by [[Daniel Owen]], credited as the first novel written in the Welsh language. The 20th century saw a move from the verbose Victorian Welsh style, with works such as [[Thomas Gwynn Jones]]'s ''[[Ymadawiad Arthur]]''.<ref name="Davies466" /> The First World War had a profound effect on Welsh literature with a more pessimistic style championed by [[T. H. Parry-Williams]] and [[R. Williams Parry]].<ref name="Davies466" /> The industrialisation of south Wales saw a further shift with the likes of [[Rhydwen Williams]] who used the poetry and metre of a bygone rural Wales but in the context of an industrial landscape. The inter-war period is dominated by [[Saunders Lewis]], for his political and reactionary views as much as his plays, poetry and criticism.<ref name="Davies466" />

The careers of some 1930s writers continued after World War Two, including those of [[Gwyn Thomas (novelist)|Gwyn Thomas]], [[Vernon Watkins]], and [[Dylan Thomas]], whose most famous work ''[[Under Milk Wood]]'' was first broadcast in 1954. Thomas was one of the most notable and popular Welsh writers of the 20th century and one of the most innovative poets of his time.<ref>Davies (2008) p. 861</ref> The attitude of the post-war generation of Welsh writers in English towards Wales differs from the previous generation, with greater sympathy for Welsh nationalism and the Welsh language. The change is linked to the nationalism of [[Saunders Lewis]] and the burning of the Bombing School on the [[Llŷn Peninsula]] in 1936.<ref>''The Pocket Guide'', p. 122.</ref> In poetry [[R. S. Thomas]] (1913–2000) was the most important figure throughout the second half of the 20th century. He "did not learn the Welsh language until he was 30 and wrote all his poems in English".<ref>''Los Angeles Times'', "Obituary", 27 September 2000</ref> Major writers in the second half of the 20th century include [[Emyr Humphreys]] (1919–2020), who during his long writing career published over twenty novels,<ref>''Emyr Humphreys: Conversations and Reflections'', ed. M. Wynn Thomas. University of Wales Press: Cardiff, 2002, p. 8.</ref> and [[Raymond Williams]] (1921–1988).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Maurice Cowling |date=1 February 1990 |title=Raymond Williams in retrospect |url=https://newcriterion.com/issues/1990/2/raymond-williams-in-retrospect |access-date=3 May 2020 |publisher=New Criterion}}</ref>