Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

Letters' in this case a Life through Letters. (and Diaries). From early days Poole-Hughes was an assiduous, almost compulsive, writer, to family, friends, and for himself. Sinclair and Fenn have exhaust- ively explored the papers that remain, and this volume is the result. Their own role has been that of editors, commentators and redactors rather than that of authors. The outcome is inevitably one-sided. To the reader Poole-Hughes is revealed speaking guardedly and usually modestly about himself. He was aware that others might read his diaries Sinclair and Fenn note that all those concerning his adult years are prefaced with a warning to any who might 'chance to read this. and take offence (p. 18). So, despite protestations that his words reflect and express his private feelings, much inevitably remained unsaid. Poole- Hughes might have been surprised that his letters and diaries would merit publication. Nonetheless he obviously realised and felt that his life might be of sufficient interest and consequence that later generations might wish to read them. Few people are brave enough, or extrovert enough, to 'tell all' with that realisation. 'Woolly Pully' was not one of them. Reticence, modesty, even naivety, coupled with a maturing spirit- uality and deepening holiness (if not unworldliness) is the impression he gives of himself in these pages, as we follow him from Llandovery to War Service, from Wells to Aberystwyth, from Wales to Africa, from Llantwit to Llandaff. But for all the copious quotation, for all Sinclair and Fenn's painstaking work, Poole-Hughes eludes us, and it is never entirely clear why he was Just the Right Man' for the various ministries that he was called upon to undertake. Indeed, almost everything said about his Llandaff episcopate, and a great deal of what he said himself at the time, would indicate that here at least he was a misfit. Perhaps later on a more conventional and rounded biographical study which draws on a greater range of source material than does this one will give us a better balanced picture of the man. In the meantime the publication of his Memoir on Escape from confinement as a POW in Italy might reveal more of the man of spirit and initiative. The publication of his poetry what is quoted here shows him to have been a minor but effective war poet at the least might