HIRAETH: A LOST CHILDHOOD

Book excerpt: Writing a PhD is a challenge for anyone. A PhD is a marathon of writing, thinking, getting it wrong, making breakthroughs, but with the ultimate aim to reach the crowning glory of being called a 'doctor', with the hope that it will bring the start, or the enhancement of a career, usually in academia. Writing a PhD, however, does not just come with the challenges of writing, but it is accompanied with life's challenges, therefore, writing a PhD inevitably ensures that you reflect on life, in what you have gained and in what you have lost or not had. This book is a collection of villanelles that reflect on a 'lost childhood' of not being in Wales, a hiraeth, a yearning and a nostalgic feel for the 'land of my fathers'.