Dal ar y seld neu a gawsom ni weld? Y Gymraeg, y Gyfraith a Chyfansoddiad Cymru

Description

Darlith Goffa T. H. Parry-Williams 2026

Cei ganmol hon fel canmol jwg ar seld

Ond gwna hi’n hanfod – ac fe gei di weld.

(You can praise her like praising a jug on a dresser

But make her essential, and you’ll find out.)

This is the familiar closing couplet of T. H. Parry-Williams’s sonnet ‘Cyngor’ (Advice) from 1949, expressing, but at the same time satirising, a guarded attitude towards recognising the Welsh language as an ‘essential element’ of the nation.

Emyr Lewis considers constitutional and legal developments in Wales since 1998 in the light of these words, arguing that it is possible by now to say that the Welsh language is an essential element of Wales, part of its constitutional foundations.

This lecture combines literary criticism and explaining the law, offering an incisive (and occasionally playful) commentary on contemporary Wales.

21pp.

978-1-907029-48-6