Ann Griffiths

Remembered in Llanfihangel-yng-Ngwynfa

Ann Griffiths (née Thomas, 1776–1805) was a Welsh poet and writer of Methodist Christian hymns. Her poetry expresses a fervent evangelical Christian faith and reflects thorough scriptural knowledge.[1]

Biography

A letter in the hand of Ann Griffiths

Ann was born in April 1776 near the village of Llanfihangel-yng-Ngwynfa, six miles (10 km) from the market town of Llanfyllin (in the former county of Montgomeryshire) in Powys. She was the daughter of John Evan Thomas, a tenant farmer and churchwarden, and his wife, Jane. She had two older sisters, an older brother, John, and a younger brother, Edward. Her parents' house, Dolwar Fechan, was an isolated farm-house some two and a half miles (4 km) south of Llanfihangel and one mile (1.6 km) north of Dolanog, set among hills and streams.

Not far away lay Pennant Melangell, where Saint Melangell had lived as a hermit in the 6th century.[2]

Ann was brought up in the Anglican church; but in 1794, when she was 18, her mother died, and about this time or perhaps earlier she followed her brothers John and Edward in becoming drawn to the Methodist movement. In 1796 she joined the Calvinistic Methodist movement after hearing the preaching of Benjamin Jones of Pwllheli.

After the deaths of both her parents she married Thomas Griffiths, a farmer from the parish of Meifod and an elder of the Calvinistic Methodist church.

In August 1805 she died following childbirth aged 29 and was buried on 12 August 1805 at Llanfihangel-yng-Ngwynfa.

She left behind a handful of stanzas in the Welsh language. These were preserved and published by her mentor, the Calvinistic Methodist minister, John Hughes of Pontrobert, and his wife, Ruth, who had been a maid at Ann Griffiths' farm and was a close confidante.

Together with Mary Jones (1784–1864), a poor Welsh girl who walked to Bala to buy a Bible, Ann Griffiths became a national icon by the end of the 19th century, and was a significant figure in Welsh nonconformism.[3]

Poetry

Ann's poems are an expression of her fervent evangelical Christian faith, and reflect her incisive intellect and thorough scriptural knowledge. She is the most prominent female hymn-writer in Welsh. Her work is regarded as a highlight of Welsh literature, and her longest poem Rhyfedd, rhyfedd gan angylion... (Wondrous, wondrous to angels...)[4] was described by the dramatist and literary critic Saunders Lewis as "one of the majestic songs in the religious poetry of Europe".

Her hymn Wele'n sefyll rhwng y myrtwydd is commonly sung in Wales to the tune Cwm Rhondda.

The service of enthronement of Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury in February 2003 included Rowan's own translation of one of her hymns: "Yr Arglwydd Iesu" ("The Lord Jesus").

Musical

Album cover of the musical Ann!

The television channel S4C commissioned Ann!, a musical based on the life of Ann Griffiths, to be performed at the 2003 National Eisteddfod at Meifod. The performance was subsequently televised and a CD was released.[5]

References

  1. ↑ James Wyn: Introduction to the life and work of Ann Griffiths Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  2. ↑ Archaeologia Cambrensis, Journal of the Cambrian Archaeological Association, Vol. III, 6th Series, London, 1903.
  3. ↑ James, E. Wyn. "Bala and the Bible: Thomas Charles, Ann Griffiths and Mary Jones". Cardiff University.
  4. ↑ James, E. Wyn. "Introduction to the life and work of Ann Griffiths". gwefan Ann Griffiths website. Cardiff University. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  5. ↑ "Maldwyn Theatre Company - Ann!". Sain. Retrieved 1 July 2017.

Further reading

  • A. Griffiths, Cofio Ann Griffiths, ed. G. M. Roberts (1965)
  • A. M. Allchin, Ann Griffiths, Writers of Wales series (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1976)
  • E. Wyn James, ‘Cushions, Copy-books and Computers: Ann Griffiths (1776–1805), Her Hymns and Letters and Their Transmission’, Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, 90:2 (Autumn 2014), 163-83. ISSN 2054-9318.
  • H. A. Hodges (ed. E. Wyn James), Flame in the Mountains: Williams Pantycelyn, Ann Griffiths and the Welsh Hymn (Tal-y-bont: Y Lolfa, 2017), 320 pp. ISBN 978-1-78461-454-6. This volume includes the text of Ann Griffiths' hymns in the original Welsh together with translations of her hymns and letters into English.

The standard edition of her hymns and letters is E. Wyn James (ed.), Rhyfeddaf fyth . . . (Gwasg Gregynog, 1998).

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