Waldo Williams was born in Haverfordwest, the son of a schoolteacher. English was the first language of the family and it wasn’t until he moved to Fynachlog-ddu and attended the local school at seven years of age that he was immersed himself in the Welsh language.

His parents were firm chapel-goers who were also influenced by the radical movement of the time. As pacifists, they were strongly opposed to the First World War. Williams grew up in an environment that would give him a unique view later in life. It led to him being breaking the law and being imprisoned for his stance against the Korean war in 1950.

From Narberth grammar school he went to the University of Wales, Aberystwyth to study English before returning to his beloved Pembrokeshire to become a teacher.

He was a conscientious objector to Word War II, and the horror of war was evident in his poems during this period – Y Tangnefeddwyr (The Peacemeakers), which describes “Abertawe’n fflam” (“Swansea aflame”) is one which stays in the memory.

Williams stood as Plaid Cymru candidate in the General Election of 1959, but he was not a political animal by nature. He spread his gospel as a nationalist through his poems and he had considerable political influence on the younger generation of activists.

It’s certain that Williams is the only Welsh language poet to be quoted by an Archbishop Of Canterbury. In an attempt to define what is life during a sermon in an international conference in New York in 2003, Rowan Williams stated the Welsh poet was as close as any to the definition in his poem Pa Beth Yw Dyn (What Is Man), when he wrote ‘Cael neuadd fawr/Rhwng cyfyng furiau’ (“Inhabiting a great hall/between narrow walls).