Richard Goodman Jones (20 January 1920 – 4 March 2013) was a Welsh poet, better known as ''Dic''. He was a resident of

Mynytho Mynytho is a small village in the parish of Llanengan near the southern coast of the Llŷn Peninsula in northwestern Wales. It consists of a few houses and some farmland. There are also several campsites on the outskirts of the village. The pop ...

on the

Llŷn Peninsula The Llŷn Peninsula ( or , ) is a peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales, with an area of about , and a population of at least 20,000. It extends into the Irish Sea, and its southern coast is the northern boundary of the Tremadog Bay inlet of Cardigan Ba ...

Gwynedd Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...

Background

Richard was born to his mother Kate, and his father of his same name who died within 1 month of Richard's birth. Though Kate remarried within 9 years, Richard remained an only child, and eventually lost his stepfather in a farming accident. Richard was brought up in humble circumstances in the North Welsh village

, where he attended Foel Gron primary school. He never disassociated himself with the area. In 1952 he married Laura Ellen Jones (also of Mynytho) and fathered two children; Sian and Dafydd. He died on 4 March 2013, at the age of 93. He was survived by his wife, two children and two grandchildren by his son Dafydd.

His work

Richard explored numerous professions, from being a painter and decorator, an insurance salesman, and a

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

merchant seaman to being a teacher at Pont-y-Gof primary school, in

Botwnnog Botwnnog is a village and community in Gwynedd in Wales, located on the Llŷn Peninsula west-northwest of Abersoch. It is in the historic county of Caernarfonshire. It had a population of 955 in 2001, increasing to 996 at the 2011 Census. The ...

. As a poet, he has won many bardic chairs, but never the

National Eisteddfod The National Eisteddfod of Wales ( Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Europe. Competito ...

. Many collections of his work have been published, including ''Hanes Y Daith'' and a book about space. He was a renowned writer of the

englyn (; plural ) is a traditional Welsh short poem form. It uses quantitative metres, involving the counting of syllables, and rigid patterns of rhyme and half rhyme. Each line contains a repeating pattern of consonants and accent known as . Ear ...

form.

Bibliography

*''Caneuon y Gwynt a'r Glaw'' (1975) *''I'r Rhai sy'n gweld Rhosyn Gwyllt'' (1979)

References

1920 births 2013 deaths 20th-century British male writers 20th-century Welsh poets People from Llanengan Welsh-language poets Welsh male poets {{Wales-writer-stub