Idris Davies

Idris Davies (1905-1953) was a Welsh poet, writing in English. He is now known mostly for The Bells of Rhymney, a ballad on a mining accident on the pattern of the nursery rhyme Oranges and Lemons that was set to music by Pete Seeger, and became a folk rock standard.

He was born and brought up in Rhymney, Caerphilly, and began work as a coal miner on leaving school at 14. He studied by correspondence, having in 1926 decided to leave the pits after the failure of the General Strike. He wrote from a socialist perspective.

He became a qualified teacher through courses at Loughborough College and the University of Nottingham. He took teaching posts in London, and then Wales, returning to Rhymney in 1947. His second collection was taken by T. S. Eliot for Faber and Faber 1945.

The Bells of Rhymney was covered by The Byrds; and then by many others, including Jimmy Page, Judy Collins, Dick Gaughan, Cher and The Alarm . Also by Bob Dylan live, and Robin Williamson on an album of readings.

Davies died from cancer in 1953.

Works

• Gwalia Deserta (1938)
• The Angry Summer: A Poem of 1926 (1943) Faber and Faber
• Tonypandy and other poems (1945) Faber and Faber
• Selected Poems (1953)
• Collected Poems (1972) Gomerian Press
• Complete Poems (1994) edited by Dafydd Johnston
• A Carol for the Coalfield (2002)