Editing Hedd Wyn (section)

==Legacy==
===National Eisteddfod===
On 6 September 1917, the ceremony of [[Chairing of the Bard]] took place at the National Eisteddfod in [[Birkenhead Park]], England; in attendance was the Welsh-speaking [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British Prime Minister]], [[David Lloyd George]]. After the adjudicators announced that 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, [[Archdruid]] [[Evan Rees (Dyfed)|Dyfed]] solemnly announced that the winner had been killed in action six weeks earlier. The empty chair was then draped in a black sheet. It was delivered to Evans's parents in the same condition, "the festival in tears and the poet in his grave", as Archdruid Dyfed said. The festival is now referred to as "''Eisteddfod y Gadair Ddu''" ("The Eisteddfod of the Black Chair").
[[File:Y Gadair Ddu (manylyn).JPG|thumb|The Black Chair (''Y Gadair Ddu'') is on permanent display at his family farm near [[Trawsfynydd ]]]]
The chair was hand-crafted by [[Flanders|Flemish]] craftsman, Eugeen Vanfleteren (1880–1950), a carpenter born in [[Mechelen]], [[Belgium]], who had fled to England on the outbreak of war and had settled in Birkenhead.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dehandschutter|first= Lieven|year=2001|title= Hedd Wyn. A Welsh tragedy in Flanders|publisher= Vormingscentrum Lodewijk Dosfel (Gent, Flanders, Belgium|page= 47}}</ref>

===Manuscripts and publications===

Immediately after the Eisteddfod, a committee was formed in Trawsfynydd to look after the poet's legacy. Under the leadership of J. R. Jones, the head teacher of the village school, all manuscripts in the poet's hand were collected and carefully preserved. Due to the committee's efforts, the first anthology of the bard's work, titled ''Cerddi'r Bugail'' ("The Shepherd's Poems"), was published in 1918. The manuscripts were donated to the [[National Library of Wales]] in 1934.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=3790 |title=National Library's Page on Hedd Wyn |publisher=Llgc.org.uk |date=1917-07-31 |access-date=2014-05-19}}</ref>

''Hedd Wyn, Ei Farddoniaeth'', a complete Welsh language anthology of his works, was published by Trawsfynydd's Merilang Press in 2012.<ref>{{cite book|pages=1–184|publisher= Merilang Press|year= 2012|title=Hedd Wyn, Ei Farddoniaeth|isbn=978-0956937919|author=	Ellis Humphrey Evans|editor= Daffni Percival}}</ref>

The poem ''Yr Arwr'' ("The Hero"), for which Hedd Wyn won the National Eisteddfod, is still considered his greatest work. The ode is structured in four parts and presents two principal characters, ''Merch y Drycinoedd'' ("Daughter of the Tempests") and the ''Arwr''. There has been much disagreement in the past regarding the meaning of the ode. It can be said with certainty that Hedd Wyn, like his favourite poet Shelley, longed for a perfect humanity and a perfect world during the chaos of war.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://freepages.books.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~alwyn/Cerddibugail/yr_arwr.shtml |title=Full text (in Welsh) |publisher=Freepages.books.rootsweb.ancestry.com |access-date=2014-05-19 |archive-date=27 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090427130357/http://freepages.books.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~alwyn/Cerddibugail/yr_arwr.shtml |url-status=dead }}</ref>

''Merch y Drycinoedd'' has been perceived as a symbol of love, the beauty of nature, and creativity; and ''Yr Arwr'' as a symbol of goodness, fairness, freedom, and justice. It is wished that through his sacrifice, and his union with ''Merch y Drycinoedd'' at the end of the ode, a better age will come.

===Trawsfynydd and Yr Ysgwrn===
[[File:Hedd Wyn statue.jpg|right|thumb|upright|The statue of Hedd Wyn in his home village of [[Trawsfynydd]].]]
A bronze statue of Hedd Wyn, dressed as a shepherd, was unveiled by his mother in the centre of the village in 1923. It bears an [[englyn]] which Hedd Wyn had written in memory of a slain friend, Tommy Morris.
{{Verse translation|
{{lang|cy|Ei aberth nid â heibio – ei wyneb
Annwyl nid â'n ango
Er i'r Almaen ystaenio
Ei dwrn dur yn ei waed o.}}
|
His sacrifice was not in vain, his face
In our minds will remain,
Although he left a bloodstain
On Germany's iron fist of pain.<ref name=llwyd/>{{rp|p213}}}}

Evans's bardic chair is on permanent display at his family's hill farm, Yr Ysgwrn. The property was preserved just as it was in 1917 by the poet's family and his nephew Gerald Williams (d. 2021), who was the last of his relatives to live on the farm.<ref>{{cite AV media | title=Hedd Wyn: The Lost War Poet | people=Wyn, Euros (director) | date=August 5, 2017 | type=Documentary| publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation}}</ref> For years, Gerald and his brother Ellis continued to farm the land surrounding the farmhouse as custodians of both Yr Ysgwrn and Hedd Wyn’s legacy, welcoming visitors and working to ensure Hedd Wyn’s story lived on. In 2012, fourteen years after Ellis's death, Gerald decided it was time to pass on the custodianship of Yr Ysgwrn to the [[Snowdonia National Park Authority]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-57446605 | title=Gerald Williams: Man who kept WW1 poet Hedd Wyn memory alive dies | work=BBC News | date=11 June 2021 }}</ref>

The Park Authority, with support from the [[Welsh Government]] and the [[National Lottery (United Kingdom)|National Lottery]], announced on [[St David's Day]] 2012 that it had acquired the [[Grade II* listed buildings in Gwynedd|Grade II-listed]] farmstead and its surrounding lands for the Welsh nation. The Authority's objectives are to protect and preserve the site while enhancing the visitor experience in order to share the story of Hedd Wyn.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.snowdonia.gov.wales/visiting/yr-ysgwrn?name=|title=Yr Ysgwrn|publisher=snowdonia.gov.wales|access-date=6 November 2017}}</ref> In the same year, Gerald Williams was awarded an [[Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|MBE]] for his "exceptional contribution" to conserving the heritage of his bardic uncle.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-20857039 |title=BBC News – Wales honours: Libyan Mahdi Jibani MBE for medical and interfaith work |work=BBC News|date=29 December 2012|access-date=19 May 2013}}</ref>

===Centennial commemorations===
In August 2014, the [[Welsh Memorial Park, Ypres]] was unveiled at [[Pilckem Ridge]] near Ypres. The [[war memorial]] stands close to the spot where Hedd Wyn was mortally wounded in July 1917 during the [[Battle of Passchendaele]].<ref name="Hagebos"/>

To mark the 100th anniversary of his death, a Bardic chair was made to celebrate the life of Hedd Wyn.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-38585595|title=New chair marks Welsh WW1 poet Hedd Wyn's centenary|work=BBC News|date=13 January 2017}}</ref> It was presented to the [[Welsh Government]] at a special service of remembrance at Birkenhead Park in September 2017. A memorial to the poet was also unveiled in the park, the site of the 1917 National Eisteddfod.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-41214767|title=Birkenhead festival marks Hedd Wyn Black Chair centenary|work=BBC News|date=9 September 2017}}</ref>

In November 2017, as part of the annual [[Remembrance Day|British Armistice commemorations]], a video installation commemorating the life of Hedd Wyn was beamed onto the exterior walls of the [[National Library of Wales]], [[Aberystwyth]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-41511334|title=Hedd Wyn video installation on National Library of Wales|work=BBC News|date=5 October 2017}}</ref> The work was the culmination of a project involving more than 800 schoolchildren and adults at primary and secondary schools across Wales which looked at the life and legacy of the poet.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scottishpower.com/pages/spfnews_war_poet_hedd_wyn_remembered_in_unique_video_installation_beamed_on_to_the_national_library_of_wales.aspx|title=War poet Hedd Wyn remembered in unique video installation beamed on to the National Library of Wales|access-date=3 March 2019|website=www.scottishpower.com}}</ref>