The following essay is the product of this first spark of interest and later many hours of research. Throughout my essay, I combine a thorough understanding of the history of the Nonconformist religion, based entirely on research, with a concrete picture of how this religion influenced the lives of the Welsh people. By examining a fictional Welsh community in Llewellyn’s novel, I explain the many facets of this religion, focusing primarily on the emphasis on religious education, the importance of singing, and the determination of the Nonconformists to promote social justice through politics. Ultimately, I reveal how the Nonconformist religion united the people of Wales and influenced life in Wales and around the world for years to come.
In the novel How Green Was My Valley, by Richard Llewellyn, we are introduced to the culture of Wales at the turn of the nineteenth century through Huw Morgan and his family who are members of a typical coal-mining community. Through the story of their lives, we are able to witness how their community, once closely united through family, religion, and the Welsh language and spirit, eventually deteriorates with the arrival of English and Irish workers and with the desecration of the land as a result of the coal-mining industry. In this light, Llewellyn has been referred to by many as "yet another Welsh author lamenting the loss of Eden in the confusion of the modern, industrial and commercial world" ("Part 17" 3). Taking this same view, critic Derrick Price claims that "The power of the text derives from the way in which it uses romance to take real historical struggles and return them to us as an ineluctable fall from grace of particular human beings" (93). Although both of these claims can be well supported by the novel, they fail to recognize an important aspect of the culture represented in the novel. This aspect is the prevalent influence of the Nonconformist Church.
Religion in Wales went through many changes before becoming the Nonconformist Church depicted in the novel. After converting from Catholicism to Protestantism when Henry VIII broke away from the Roman Catholic church ("Wales" 3), the Welsh people for many years felt apathetic towards religion in general. Upon the death of Charles I in 1649, however, a new religious movement swept through Wales, attracting the Protestants who were feeling spiritually dead ("Part 11" 1). This new movement referred to as Nonconformism was highly evangelical, which means "of or pertaining to the Gospel" ("Evangelicalism" 1). Followers of this religious movement "believed that the essence of the Gospel lay in the doctrine of salvation by faith in the death of Christ, which atoned for man’s sins" (1). The movement placed much emphasis on the importance of a personal relationship with God and on faith. The evangelical focus was an important characteristic of many denominations that developed, including the Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian denominations. John Wesley, the leader of the Methodist movement, worked extensively among the working class in the new industrial regions. The religion attracted these people who had felt out of touch and disenchanted with the Church of England ("Methodism" 1). In 1811, the Calvinistic Methodist Church was founded; today it is known as the Presbyterian Church of Wales ("Part 14" 2). It was this Nonconformist religion that reignited the excitement of religion for the Welsh people. It is also this new religion that pervades Llewellyn’s novel and allows us to see beyond the supposed fall from Eden to the hope of salvation on which the religion depends. The Nonconformist religious movement in Wales shaped and united the Welsh people, creating a culture that would fulfill the ideals of evangelism and be strong enough to endure the dividing forces of time. In the novel, the influence of this new religious movement can be most clearly seen in the emphasis on religious education through the Bible, the importance of witness and fellowship achieved through singing, and the working towards social justice through politics.
The Nonconformist Church believed very strongly in the need for a personal relationship with God. The Bible, for them, provided a much more direct link to God than the formal rituals of the High Church that had limited God to worship in the church service only. The Bible was translated into Welsh in 1588 ("Part 11" 1), so by the time the Nonconformist movement reached Wales, the people already had access to what would become for them a daily part of their lives. Another event in history that brought the people of Wales to a closer relationship with God was the Act for the Better Propagation and Preaching of the Gospel, passed in 1650. This act was passed by Parliament to provide ministers to preach the gospel in places like Wales ("Part 11" 1). Preachers like Mr. Gruffydd in the novel were readily welcomed by the Welsh because they provided a certain religious independence and because they preached in the vernacular language. This act also established a national system of schools in which students learned the basics of reading and writing but also were required to memorize the scriptures (1). Unfortunately, as did the national school that Huw attended, these schools used English rather than Welsh. For the most part though, the language of Wales was preserved through the Nonconformist religion. Chapel services were all ministered in Welsh, and in 1784, Thomas Charles set up a Sunday School movement that contributed to the preservation of the language and culture. Charles published another Bible in Welsh in 1814 as well ("Part 14" 2).
The Nonconformist religion held the Bible in highest regard, believing every word to be true and applicable to their lives. We see this belief in the lives of the people in the novel simply by the number of times they directly quote the Bible and the number of references and analogies that are made to it. Even as a young child, Huw is very familiar with the Bible. As an invalid, he makes the comment, "The Bible, of course, my father and Owen read before going to bed, and I knew it in the end as well as Owen" (Llewellyn 70). He proves this when he defends the young woman in church by saying to the men who are accusing her, "First cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye" (111). Later, when defending his own actions to Mr. Gruffydd, he again bases his beliefs on the scriptures when he says, "They were cruel to her. And all those men were groaning and nodding to make her hurt more. That was not the Word of God. Go thou, and sin no more, Jesus said" (119). The words of the Bible can also bring comfort to the family, as they do when Ivor dies and Taliesin is born. Gwilym takes refuge in the passage, "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away" (399). Finally, Owen also uses the words of the Bible to explain to his mother the beginning of the Union movement and also possibly to assure her of its good cause. Davy says to her, "There is no end, Mama. Only a beginning." And Owen finishes with, "In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God" (58).
Not only do the people in the novel directly quote the Bible, but they also refer to many biblical stories in relation to their own lives. For example, when Ianto accuses Mr. Gruffydd of doing useless work, he compares him and all preachers to a shepherd of sheep, an analogy often made in the Bible (Llewellyn 130). Later, when defending his role in politics to the men of the community, Mr. Gruffydd responds with, "My business is anything that comes between men and the spirit of God. Let it not be forgotten that the Lord Jesus drove the money-changers from the Temple, not only because they profaned that holy place, but also because they were corrupting the people" (154). Mr. Gruffydd also makes reference to the Bible when he reassures the Pritchard family that their daughter is in heaven. He tells them, "There is no waiting for children. Come unto me, said the Lord, and suffer the little children to come unto me" (212). Even in references to sexual matters, the Bible provides a clearer understanding. To explain to Huw what happens when a child is conceived, Mr. Gruffydd uses the example of Adam and Eve (283-284). Huw contemplates his newfound knowledge based on the Bible when he experiences the first feelings of manhood and of sexual desire. He talks about having "knowledge of the Tree of Life" and "waiting in the darkness of the Garden for some unknown Eve to tempt me with the apple of her beauty, that we might know our nakedness, and bring forth sons and daughters to magnify the Lord our God" (297). Later, he puts his knowledge to use and actually experiences that which he had dreamed of. The woman was no longer some "unknown Eve" however, but Ceinwen. Again he refers to the story in the Bible by saying, "Yet this it was that left the Garden to weeds. I had eaten of the Tree. Eve was still warm under me" (378). Finally, Huw refers to the valley that before had been almost an Eden to the community as the Valley of the Shadow of Death (232).
The knowledge of the Bible that the Nonconformists encouraged not only provided for its followers opportunities to relate certain passages or stories to their lives but also allowed them to develop a personal relationship with God. The relationship that Huw has with his Savior is very clear when he tells us his first thoughts about Christ:
Just as reading the Bible and praying strengthened the people of Wales’ relationship with God, singing hymns also provided them the opportunity to focus on their faith. However, whereas Bible reading and praying were private connections to God, singing served as a kind of fellowship within the community and a means of witnessing to others not in the community. In fact, public hymn singing has been called "the most dynamic preacher and recruiter of them all" ("Part 11" 1). The first traveling evangelists who came to Wales, among them William Wroth, Walter Cradock, and Vavasor Powell, stressed the importance of hymn singing in Welsh chapels (1). Some preachers also wrote many of the hymns that were sung. Through the hymns that they wrote, they were able to express their own individual spirituality. For example, William Williams, who has been referred to as "the greatest of all the Welsh literary Methodists," is remembered most for his hymns that reflect his love of the Welsh landscape and of the characteristically Welsh nostalgic longing for home ("Part 14" 2-3). Combining both passions, he focused on the spiritual journey of man in his hymns. Over a period of ten years, Williams produced a total of 130 hymns (3). Another Methodist preacher and hymn writer who was influenced by Williams was David Charles, the brother of Thomas Charles, the founder of the Sunday School Movement (3-4).
The literary movement sweeping through Wales was also strengthened by the emphasis on singing. Several poets utilized their talents to create beautiful hymns, reflecting the beauty of the Welsh language itself. One such poet was Ann Griffiths, whose "spiritual and sensuous hymns, of which seventy-four survive, show her abilities as a poet using rhythmic, melodious language to show her intensity of feeling for and devotion to Jesus" (4). Similarly, preacher-poet Rhys Pritchard wrote a series of moral verses that eventually became the source of Welsh hymns. Edmund Prys is best remembered for his Psalms that were published as an appendix to the Welsh Book of Common Prayer in 1621. For more than 100 years, this was the main hymnal used in Wales, and many churches still use it in Wales today.
It was the hymns of historical people such as these men and women that gave the people in Llewellyn’s novel the opportunity to make singing such a large part of their lives. The strength that this type of uplifting experience gave the people of Huw’s community is obvious when we look at the situations in which they sing. Because singing was such an integral part of the Nonconformist religion, the people in the community sing often; it just seems a natural part of their day. They sing on the way to work and to church, in good times and bad. Singing also unites their community when negative forces threaten its security. For example, when a seven-year-old girl is raped and murdered, the community members set out to find the man responsible, led by Mr. Gruffydd, "striking up a hymn as he went. The boots of the men beat time upon the ground, and their voices flung the anthem before them" (Llewellyn 203). In this instance, singing for them is proclaiming the voice of justice. Singing also eases the pain of death, as is shown in the funeral processions of both the little girl and Mr. Evans (209, 262-263). When the coal-miners go on strike and the people start going hungry, singing provides a way to raise money for food. It is then that Mr. Gruffydd organizes the choir led by Ivor. Huw remembers the impact this had on him when he says, "One night I heard a choir of a thousand voices singing in the darkness, and I thought I heard the voice of God" (248). Finally, singing also provides a medium for witnessing their religion and their patriotism to other people. They are given the perfect opportunity to do this when Ivor’s choir is invited to sing for the Queen of England (327-328).
On the surface, the connection between politics and the Nonconformist religion may not be as clear as the connection between that religion and the Bible and singing. However, when we look more deeply at the doctrine of the evangelical movement, we can understand how an active involvement in politics provided a catalyst for social reform. Believers in the Nonconformist religion placed much emphasis on social causes, missionary work, and a general goal of helping others ("Doctrines" 1). Though these were not always achieved through politics (the Morgan family in the novel demonstrated a simple generosity to their neighbors in many instances), involvement in the development of trade unions and political participation in working-class issues were the most popular and immanent vehicles to fulfill these goals. As critic Steve Bruce put it, "The Nonconformist churches acted as the repository of Welsh cultural identity and anti-English political sentiments. Wales was the one part of England and Wales where religious affiliation was a politically charged issue" (521).
Many Nonconformists were willing to fight for any political issue they believed strongly in, no matter how long it took to create change. The Morgan family in the novel represents this perseverance in the way that they work for better wages and better working conditions in the coal-mining industry for many years before they finally have to surrender to the destruction of their community. The moral obligation that they feel due to their nonconformist beliefs is shown clearly in Owen’s statement that "In this house and outside, wherever there is wrong I will speak against it" (Llewellyn 36). God is the essential center of their political action, as Gwilym reminds the Unionists at their meeting on the mountain (44). The reason for the Nonconformist’s emphasis on social betterment is probably summed up best when Ianto justifies his ongoing political confrontation with the government by saying, "God made the earth for Man, not for some of the men" (404).
By the end of the novel, the community that we are introduced to at the beginning has undeniably undergone enormous change. The people are no longer united in a peaceful way of life, and the beautiful mountains and valleys have become a terrain of black slag. Some critics may say that Eden has been corrupted with sin and the Welsh culture taken over by industrialism and the arrival of foreigners. However, although that one community has changed, the Nonconformist values on which it was once based continue to live on. The Nonconformist religious movement in Wales really did shape and unite the people, creating a culture that did fulfill the ideals of evangelism. Each of the children (except Olwen who remains) and Mr. Gruffydd play a part in the evangelist movement by spreading their culture and telling the good news of God to the United States, New Zealand, Germany, Patagonia, and Cape Town. And even after they die, their memory lives on. For as Huw says at the end of the novel, referring to all of the people who influenced his life, "For if he [Mr. Gruffydd, but actually all of them] is [dead], then I am dead, and we are dead, and all of sense a mockery" (Llewellyn 494). This novel proves, however, that all of sense is not a mockery because through memories and the evangelism of the Nonconformist religion, the people never actually die. In this way, the Welsh culture can and has endured the dividing forces of time.
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