Produced by Al Haines
1877.
Being restricted by the Wrexham Eisteddfod Committee to 200 lines, Iwas obliged to lop away from the bulk of the following poem justsufficient for their requirements. I have always declaimed, from aphysical point of view, against the pernicious influence oflight-lacing, and this being so, it was not likely I could go at onceand mentally encase my delicate muse, for a permanency, in a straightwaistcoat, at the behest of any committee in the world. What would shehave thought of me? If, therefore, the committee, or any member of it,should by chance observe that the "Death of Saul," as I now produce it,is of a more comprehensive character than the "Death of Saul" for whichthey were good enough to award me the first prize, they will see thepoem without the temporary stays in which I was necessitated to encaseit in order to make it acceptable to them and their restrictive tastes.To squeeze a poem of nearly 400 lines into the dimensions of one of200, is, in my opinion, an achievement worthy of a prize in itself; andas half of the original had a gold medal awarded to it, the whole ofit, I should think, ought to be worth two. I trust Eisteddfodcommittees, when they contemplate putting the curb upon us poor poets,will think of the Wrexham National Eisteddfod, and how half the "Deathof Saul" took a first prize.
Let the bright sun of Approbation shine
In warmth upon the humble rhymester's line,
And, like the lark that flutters tow'rds the light,
He spreads his pinions for a loftier flight.
The chilling frowns of critics may retard,
But cannot kill, the ardour of the Bard,
For, gaining wisdom by experience taught,
As grass grows strong from wounds by mowers wrought,
Success will come the Poet's fears to assuage,
Crowning his hopes with Poesy's perfect page.
The verses which make up this volume have been written at intervals,and under the most varied and chequered circumstances, extending over aperiod of five-and-twenty years. If, therefore, they bear upon theirsurface variety of sentiment and incongruity of feeling, that fact willexplain it. I am fully aware that some of the pieces are unequal inmerit from a purely artistic point of view, but I have felt that myaudience will be varied in its composition, and hence the introductionof variety. The tone, however, of the whole work, I believe to behealthy; and where honest maxims, combined with homely metaphor, arefound to take the place of high constructive art, they will, I know, beexcused by votaries of the latter, for the sake of those whose heartsand instincts are much more sensitive to homely appeals than to thecharms of mere artistic effect. The piece