Selected Poems

Selected Poems Synopsis

This Selected Poems celebrates more than fifty years of poetry by one of Wales' most versatile writers.

Chosen by the author himself, it shows how Glyn Jones' poetry has progressed over the years. Form and style may have changed but constant throughout the book are Jones' sensitivity and compassion, his wit and invention, and the intensely visual imagery of a poet who is also an artist.

As the Oxford Companion to the Literature of Wales says: "His images are fresh and bountiful, the words have a shiny newness, as though turned over for the first time, pebbles on an unfamiliar beach." This selection includes all the classic Jones work, such as 'Merthyr', 'Swifts, Esyllt' and 'The Common Path', plus the radio play 'The Dream of Jake Hopkins'.

Glyn Jones (1905-1995) was a poet, short-storywriter and novelist. Born in Merthyr Tydfil into a Welsh-speaking family, his education was entirely in English and he became a teacher in Cardiff and Bridgend. In addition to three novels, three volumes of stories and a posthumous Collected Poems, he also published The Dragon Has Two Tongues, a seminal piece of autobiographical writing which included personal appreciations of writers in both the languages of Wales. This attempt to bridge the two literary cultures is continued in A People's Poetry.