William Rees (8 November 1802 – 8 November 1883), usually known in Wales by his bardic name of Gwilym Hiraethog, was a Welsh poet and author, one of the major figures of Welsh literature during the 19th century.

Gwilym Hiraethog took his pseudonym from his birthplace, a farm on the Hiraethog mountain in Denbighshire. Largely self-educated, he was a polymath, who took an interest in astronomy and political science as well as being a Nonconformist minister and a leading literary figure.

In 1843, he founded the Welsh language journal Yr Amserau ("The Times") in Liverpool.[1] He used the newspaper to campaign for the disestablishment of the Church in Wales. Rees also penned the hymn text of Dyma gariad fel y moroedd (Here is love, vast as the ocean), which was first published in 1847 but strongly associated with the 1904-1905 Welsh revival.[2] His Helyntion Bywyd Hen Deiliwr (Predicaments of an Old Tailor) (1877) was a pioneering attempt to fashion a Welsh-language novel.[3]

Works

Poetry

• Emmanuel (1861)
• Tŵr Dafydd sef, Salmau Dafydd (1875) (Metrical Psalms)
• Gweithiau Barddonol Gwilym Hiraethog (1855)

Prose

• Llythyrau 'Rhen Ffarmwr (1878)

Novels

• Aelwyd F'Ewythr Robert (1852)
• Helyntion Bywyd Hen Deiliwr (1877)

Drama

• Y Dydd Hwnnw

References

• D. Ben Rees - The Polymath: Reverend William Rees (Gwilym Hiraethog 1802-1883) (Modern Welsh Publications)
• DNB