"I thought that no account of the life of Dr. Ifor Rees could be complete without mention of what to me appears to be a significant contribution he made to welsh literature, namely his translation of Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" into the welsh language which he made during his time in Mexico City.

I should say here that my command of that language is not good enough to allow me to really appreciate what might well have been Ifor Rees' literary magnum opus. But I get ahead of myself because I should first record how I came to know about this little book, which he published privately in Mexico City in 1942.

I spent the years from 1969 to 1985 in Montreal, having been moved there from the company's offices and laboratory in Banbury, Oxfordshire, to assume responsibility for the Intellectual Property of Alcan the multinational aluminium producer.

Early in my sojourn in Montreal I came to know Dr. John Hughes, Emeritus Dean and Professor of Education at McGill University, and leader of Montreal's welsh Presbyterian Congregation. When he died I was asked by his widow if I wished to have any books from his extensive library since it was going to be 'cleared out'.

Knowing that it must contain many welsh books I took up the offer and rescued a number that I thought I would bring back to find them a good home in Wales.

These included a slim, brown, paper backed book " Marnwad a Ysgrifennwyd Mewn Mynwent Wledig".

The cover and title page do not identify the author, and the Foreword carries merely the initials T.I.R. However the inner cover, which showed that this was copy XLII, carried a handwritten note dated Gorffenaf 1943 that reads:

"David Lewis, Gwasg Gomer, Landyssul.

Gyda dymuniadau gorau'r cyfieithydd, a chan ddymuno pob llwydd I Wasg Gomer sy'n gwneud gwaith mor rhagorol ynglyn llenyddiaeth Cymru.

T. Ifor Rees, Dinas Mecsico, Gorffenaf 1943."

So this was a copy of this book that the translator, as he terms himself, sent to the owner of the Llandyssul publisher, wishing it every success, and acknowledging its sterling work in supporting welsh literature.

Over sixty years later Gwasg Gomer enjoys great success with its substantial business based on the publication of books in the welsh language.

This little book must have found its way into Dr. John Hughes' possession through his sister, Mary, who was married to the David Lewis to whom Ifor Rees had sent this copy of his translation.

As soon as I saw it I knew that this was one of the books that I just had to bring back from Montreal.

In his Foreword to this translation, which is transcribed below, Ifor Rees talks of his early enjoyment of Gray's works, especially the Elegy, and states that he was familiar with its translation by Dafis Castell Hywel, the only one of which he was aware when he started his own.

While Ifor Rees' translation follows Grays's metric structure I understand that the earlier translation does not and, moreover, uses somewhat florid language.

The Foreword contains other comments that I do not fully understand and ends by thanking Mr. Robert Hesketh, of The American Book and Publishing Company of Mexico City both for publishing the book and providing its many illustrations, which are quite beautiful.

The title page carries the author's dedication of the book to his mother's memory.

This copy of the book is in pristine condition, perhaps because it is printed on thick paper that could well be rag-based. The translation and the principal illustrations occupy sixteen pages, while the last four pages carry the original poem.

In adding this contribution to the BBC's website about Ifor Rees I wonder whether his translation of this great poem is as widely known as it might be and if someone out there, better placed and qualified than I am, might wish to give it some publicity. Indeed I wonder whether someone might wish to look into the possibility of publishing a facsimile of the original.

As indicated above I conclude by transcribing the Foreword to this book and the first and last verses of Ifor Rees' work. Please note that where I am unable to produce below the circumflex over a character, I have printed it in bold type.

Rhagair.

Os gofynnir paham yr euthum i'r drafferth o agraffau'r cyfeithiad hwn, nid oes ond un ateb i'w roi - i foddio mympwy, a roes fwynhad i mi heb loes i arall, hyd y gwn.

Swynydd fi yn gynnar gan waith Thomas Grey, ac yn arbennig y gan enwog hon. Gwyddwn am drosiad Dafis Castell Hywel o honi i'r Gymraeg (yr unig un y gwyddwn am dano pan ymgerais a'i cyfeithiad fy hun), ond er bri y trosiad hwn, rhaid i mi gyfaddef na chefais erioed fawr o swyn y greiddiol ynddo , gan na chafwyd at fydr y gwreiddiol. Dyna a'm gyred i geisio cyfieithu'r gan fy hun, a hyderaf y maddeuir i mi am grybwll yma i feirniad mewn Eisteddfod Genedlaethol ers talm weld peth haeddiant yn y cyfeithiad gan iddo ei farnu yn deilwng o wobr.

Yr wyf gydadnabod yma fy nyled ddofn i Mr. Robert Hesketh, Dinas Mecsico, am ei gynhorthwy gwerthfawr ynglyn a'r darluniau a'r agraffu.

Mae'r gloch yn cnulio tranc y dydd a'i drin,
Ymlwybra'r bregfar braidd ar draws y ddôl;
Ymlusgo tua 'thre wna'r arddwr blin,
Tra'r byd a minnau yn y gwyll yn ôl.

Ni chesier mwy ddadlennu'i aml rin,
Na chwaith ei feiau yn eu lloches rad;
Gorffwysant un ac oll ar ras di-ffin,
Yn nhrugar, fythol gôl ei Dduw a'i Dad.

I am glad to say that my wife and I have met Ifor Rees' daughter, Morfudd Clark, who is mentioned in Gwenllian Ashley's opening paragraphs of this site as having provided the material for the Ceredigion Museum's exhibition about her father's career. We met her at the family home, a large Victorian house built by her great-grandfather just outside Rhydypennau, near Bow Street.

We found her to be very friendly and we had a most interesting conversation. I had previously sent her a copy of my first draft of this contribution to this website and had explained that I needed permission to include in the published version the quotations from her father's book.

She granted this permission without hesitation and made good the promise she had made in an earlier telephone conversation by giving me a copy of another of her father's translations of whose existence I had been ignorant.

This is his translation into welsh of Edward Fitzgerald's english translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, a work that I find challenging to read. This is printed as a bilingual text with his translation appearing on one page and the Fitzgerald verses on the facing page.

It is a substantial volume that was again published privately in Mexico City , some three years before the Gray's Elegy translation.

It was also printed by the American Book and Publishing Company and is beautifully and copiously illustrated by Robert Hesketh. I am not qualified to comment on the literary merit of what seems to me to be an amazing work, but again I feel that it deserves to be better known than I suspect it is.

The translating of poetry must require sustained effort of the highest intellectual and creative powers, so it seems to me that these translations suggest that Ifor Rees' stature owes much to his ability to concentrate on and persist with the task at hand. What is also clear is the deep love that he had for his native language, without which I doubt that he could have produced these translations.

I will conclude with a further acknowledgement of Morfudd Clark's willingness to allow me to quote from the translation of Gray's elegy and for the welcome she extended to me and my wife when we called to see her."

Article written by Eric Thomas