Roland Mathias
Roland Mathias was a notable Welsh poet and educator, born on September 4, 1915, in Ffynnon Fawr, Wales. Raised in England and Germany, he pursued his education at Caterham School and later at Jesus College, Oxford, where he earned multiple degrees. Mathias's literary career began with his first poetry collection, "Days Enduring, and Other Poems," published in 1943, and he continued to write both poetry and short stories throughout his life. In addition to his writing, he had a significant teaching career, ultimately becoming headmaster of Pembroke Grammar School and serving at other institutions until his retirement in 1969. He was deeply involved in the Welsh literary community, co-founding literary magazines such as "Dock Leaves" and "The Anglo-Welsh Review," and holding the position of editor for the latter for many years. Mathias received numerous accolades for his contributions to literature, including awards from the Welsh Arts Council and an honorary doctorate from Georgetown University. In his later years, he established the Roland Mathias Prize to support Welsh writers, demonstrating his commitment to fostering literary talent in Wales. He continues to live in Brecon, where he remains a respected figure in Welsh literature.
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Roland Mathias
Writer
- Born: September 4, 1915
- Birthplace: Ffynnon Fawr, near Talybont-on-Usk, Breconshire, Wales
- Died: August 16, 2007
- Place of death: Wales
Biography
Welsh poet Roland Glyn Mathias was born on September 4, 1915, at Ffynnon Fawr, a farm five miles from Talybont-on-Usk in Breconshire, Wales. His parents were Muriel (Morgan) and Evan Mathias, a military chaplain. Mathias was brought up in England and Germany and educated at Caterham School in Surrey, where he was editor of the school magazine. He graduated with a B.A. in history from Jesus College, Oxford University, in 1936; he also received a B.Litt. in 1939 and an M.A. in 1944 from the same institution. On April 4, 1944, Mathias married Molly Hawes, with whom he subsequently had three children; as a pacifist, he also was twice jailed during World War II. His first collection of poetry was Days Enduring, and Other Poems, published by Stockwell in 1943, followed by Break in Harvest, and Other Poems in 1946.
Mathias began his teaching career at various schools in 1938, a decade later becoming headmaster of Pembroke Grammar School in Pembrokeshire, Wales. In 1958 he moved to England and served as headmaster of two other schools, receiving schoolmaster fellowships in 1961 to Balliol College, Oxford University, and in 1967 to Swansea University. In addition to his poetry and teaching, Mathias also was noted for his short stories; his first short fiction collection, The Eleven Men of Eppynt, and Other Stories, was published in 1956. With Raymond Garlick, Mathias founded the literary magazine Dock Leaves in 1949 and The Anglo-Welsh Review in 1957; Mathias edited the latter publication from 1961 to 1976.
In 1969, after thirty-one years of teaching, Mathias retired to Brecon, Wales, just before his fifty-fourth birthday, in order to devote himself more fully to writing. Beginning in 1970, Mathias also became a part-time lecturer at University College, Cardiff, and spent a year at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, England. He served as chair of the English section of the Academy of Welsh Writers from 1975 to 1978, winning awards in poetry from the Welsh Arts Council in both 1972 and 1980. In addition to several other awards, Mathias received a Doctor of Humane Letters degree, honoris causa, from Georgetown University in 1985, for services to the literature of Wales.
Mathias has written or edited books on David Jones, Vernon Watkins, and John Cowper Powys, and co-edited Anglo-Welsh Poetry 1480-1980 (1984), also with Garlick. A retrospective, Burning Brambles: Selected Poems 1944-1979, was published in 1983. More recently, Mathias has published the poetry collection A Field at Vollorcines (1996). The Collected Short Stories of Roland Mathias was published in 2001 and The Collected Poems of Roland Mathias in 2002.
At the age of eighty-nine, Mathias also established and funded the Roland Mathias Prize, a biennial award worth 2,000 pounds, for writing from Wales in the English language. The first of these awards was granted in 2005 to poet Christine Evans. Mathias lives in his hometown of Brecon.