T. James Jones Lecture 2011

T. James Jones Lecture 2011

As he delivered the Annual Waldo Society Lecture, Archdruid Jim Parcnest mentioned how Waldo once appeared out of the blue as he was addressing the members of a literary night class. At Cross Hands Jim Parcnest had been asked to explain the significance of ‘proest’ – a half rhyme – and was struggling when in walked Waldo in his khaki shorts, and sat at the back. After much cajoling he was eventually persuaded to address the class and made use of the blackboard and chalk to explain the nuances of ‘proest’, which should not always be regarded as a blemish in prosody apparently.

On Waldo’s birthday – September 30 – at Blaenconin Chapel, Llandysilio, the Archdruid delivered his lecture in the form of a journey taken in the company of his father along the familiar paths of his childhood. Both father and son had a day to remember as the reminiscences flowed. A liberal mention was made of those characters who inhabited the area between Newcastle Emlyn and Cwm Cych and those individuals with their original turn of phrase in turn echoed similar characters that were familiar to Waldo along the Preselau hinterland and of whom he wrote poems in his volume Dail Pren. The Archdruid closed the 2011 lecture by emphasising the importance of memory as well as heart and drew attention to the use of both words by Waldo, until they were almost synonymous in meaning, to convey the deepest of thoughts as he does in the poem ‘Medi’ (September), the final poem in the volume Dail Pren.

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