Dying Gaul and Other Writings

"The Dying Gaul", David Jones' second collection of prose, was published posthumously in 1978. In these essays, Jones explores his deep connection to Wales through its culture, symbolism and through the notion of heroic defeat. He brings particular focus to the question of visual art, not only in Wales, but also in England and in its relationship to war. The collection concludes with a meditation on "Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner", the final substantive piece that David Jones would write, and one which would find him in his most reflective and redemptive.