Editing Welsh literature in English (section)

===Poetry===
David Jones also first published in the late 1930s, yet he belongs more to the post-war era. Tony Conran in 2003 suggested that it was not until the late sixties, "with the 'fragments' that were to be collected in ''The Sleeping Lord'' (1974), that his work began to enter our bloodstream and be seen as a significant part of the Anglo-Welsh renaissance".<ref>"''Poetry Wales'' and the Second Flowering", p. 224.</ref>

The attitude of the post-war generation of Welsh writers in English towards Wales differs from the previous generation, in that they were more sympathetic to Welsh nationalism and to the Welsh language. The change can be linked to the nationalist fervour generated by [[Saunders Lewis]] and the burning of the Bombing School on the [[Lleyn Peninsula]] in 1936, along with a sense of crisis generated by World War II.<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 twentieth century, beginning with ''The Stones of the Field'' in 1946 and concluding with ''No Truce with the Furies'' (1995). While 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> he wanted the Welsh language to be made the first language of Wales, and the official policy of bilingualism abolished. He wrote his autobiography in Welsh, but said he lacked the necessary grasp of the language to employ it in his poems. Although an Anglican priest, he was a fervent nationalist and advocated non-violent action against English owners of holiday homes in Wales.<ref>''Los Angeles Times'', "Obituary".</ref> As an admirer of Saunders Lewis, Thomas defended his need to use English: "Since there is in Wales a mother tongue that continues to flourish, a proper Welshman can only look on English as a means of rekindling interest in the Welsh language, and of leading people back to the mother tongue."<ref>R. S. Thomas, ''Selected Prose'', ed. Sandra Anstey. Poetry Wales Press: Brigend, 1986, p. 53</ref>
[[File:Raymond Williams At Saffron Walden.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|right|Raymond Williams]]