Pennod 81 - ‘Gwybodaeth yn amlhau’: Y Wasg Gyfnodol Gymraeg ar ddechrau’r Bedwaredd Ganrif ar Bymtheg’

A ninnau wedi cyrraedd y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg, dechreuwn drafod rhai o’r trawsffurfiadau a effeithiai ar ddiwylliant Cymraeg y cyfnod. Diwydiannu, tŵf y boblogaeth, datblygiadau technolegol, balchder yn yr ymerodraeth Brydeinig – byddai’r holl ffactorau hyn yn cyflyru llenyddiaeth Gymraeg wrth i’r ganrif fynd rhagddi. Ond canolbwyntiwn yn y bennod hon ar un peth sydd o’r pwys mwyaf i’r rhai sydd am ddeall hanes llenyddiaeth Gymraeg y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg, sef tŵf y wasg gyfnodol Gymraeg. (Ie, diffiniwn y gair ‘cyfnodolyn’ wrth fynd heibio hefyd.) Piciwn yn ôl i’r ddeunawfed ganrif er mwyn nodi rhai o’r arbrofion cynnar, ond manylwn wedyn ar y cyfnodolion a ymddangosodd yn ystod degawdau cyntaf y ganrif newydd.

Craffwn ar y modd yr oedd golygyddion rhai o’r cylchgronau enwadol cyntaf yn cyflwyno’u cyhoeddiadau i’w darllenwyr a nodwn wrth fynd heibio fod gafael Prydeindod ac imperialaeth yn dyn arnynt er gwaethaf eu daliadau crefyddol honedig radicalaidd.

* ‘Knowledge Increasing’: The Welsh-language Periodical Press at the Start of the Nineteenth Century

As we’ve reached the nineteenth century, we begin discussing some of the transformations which effected Welsh-language culture in the period. Industrialization, growth of the population, technological developments, pride in the British empire – all of these factors would condition Welsh-language literature as the century progressed. But we focus on one thing which is of extremely great interest to those seeking to understand the history of Welsh literature in the nineteenth century, namely the growth of the Welsh-language periodical press. (Yes, we define the word ‘periodical’ in passing as well.) We pop back to the eighteenth century in order to note some of the early experiments, but we go into some detail regarding the periodicals which appeared during the first decades of the new century.

We examine the way in which the editors of some of the first denominational journals presented their publications to their readers and we note in passing that Britishness and imperialism had a tight hold on them despite their supposedly radical religious stances.

Cyflwynwyd gan: Yr Athro Jerry Hunter a'r Athro Richard Wyn Jones Cynhyrchwyd gan: Richard Martin ar gyfer Mimosa Cymru Cerddoriaeth: 'Might Have Done' gan The Molenes

Darllen Pellach/Further Reading: - Huw Walters, Y Wasg Gyfnodol Gymreig, 1735-1900/The Welsh Periodical Press, 1735-1900 (1987).

Cewch ddarllen llawer iawn o’r cyfnodolion hyn ar wefan Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru/You can read many of these periodicals on the National Library of Wales’s website: https://cylchgronau.llyfrgell.cymru/ https://papuraunewydd.llyfrgell.cymru/