The Welsh poet Hedd Wyn was killed in heavy rain on 31 July 1917 during the Battle of Passchendale, near Ypres. Once a sheep farmer, he mostly wrote romantic nature poetry, but he also composed several war poems including Rhyfel (War) which begins with the line: ‘Why must I live in this grim age?’
Six weeks after his death, he was awarded the bard’s chair at the National Eisteddfod. On learning the news, the organisers draped the chair with a black cloth.
The Irish nature poet Francis Ledwidge was killed on the same day as Hedd Wyn. He was working with an Irish battalion laying a road in preparation for the assault on Passchendaele. He was ‘blown to bits’ along with five other soldiers while drinking a mug of tea in a shell hole.
The two poets who died tragically young are buried in Artillery Wood Cemetery.
Derek Blyth’s hidden secret of the day: Derek Blyth is the author of the bestselling “The 500 Hidden Secrets of Belgium”. He picks out one of his favourite hidden secrets for The Brussels Times every day.
