The names Passchendaele, the Somme and Mametz Wood stand as grim sentinels, forever bound to the unimaginable carnage of the first world war. Almost 500,000 men were killed in three months at Passchendaele, the third battle of Ypres. On the first day of that battle, Wales lost one of its most talented poets.
Born on January 13 1887, Ellis Humphrey Evans was the eldest child of Mary and Evan Evans and one of 11 siblings. He became known by his bardic name, Hedd Wyn (Blessed Peace). The family lived and worked at a remote farm outside Trawsfynydd in north-west Wales, called Yr Ysgwrn.
Evan Evans bought his son a book on the rules of strict-metre Welsh verse when Hedd Wyn was 11 years old. He read the book with passion and enthusiasm, and soon mastered the difficult and intricate rules of strict-metre verse, known as cynghanedd.
