Hunt For The Welsh Past In The Romantic Period: Analysis

The third chapter, “From a Death to a View, the Hunt for the Welsh Past in the Romantic Period” was one that I was particularly curious about. I didn’t know much about Welsh history in general before reading this chapter, although, after I had read this chapter it had become clear to me that the Welsh history was more complex than I ever could have imagined. This chapter discusses the Welsh past during the 18th and 19th centuries. This region of Wales seemed to be undergoing a paradigm shift between their traditions during the aforementioned time periods. The “old way of life” as Prys Morgan had described, of Wales in the early centuries prior to the 18th century had been disappearing. A new way of life and therefore a new set of traditions had been emerging. This new way of life and culture had initially set out to act as …show more content…
The dominant religions had no longer prospered, the language had lost its relevance, music and art had a less significant role within this once very artful and musical society, and popular literature types had changed. The text explains the changes that had occurred, “In the 16th century the native culture bound up with Catholicism largely disappeared without an especially Welsh Protestant culture coming fully to replace it, the native legal system was abolished, the bardic system atrophied, the old language was outlawed from administration” (The Invention, 44). The Welsh people were no longer living the lives that some of them once had lived or had at least heard about within the old stories. It seems that this cultural shift had occurred to accommodate a much more “proper” type of society, that being the British society. Evidence of these declines can be seen throughout the depictions and writings of historical figures from within these time periods. Edward Jones happened to play a major role in the depiction of Welsh