Background
Evans was born at Maesymynach, a farm in the parish of Llanfihangel Ystrad, Cardiganshire.
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Daniel Evans
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Daniel Evans attended the grammar school in Lampeter, where he was taught by Eliezer Williams, before attending Jesus College, Oxford.
Career
He was the second of three sons born to a farmer, David Evans. He matriculated in 1810, and obtained degrees of Bachelor of Arts (1814), Master of Arts (1817) and Bachelor of Divinity (1824). In 1817, he was elected by the college to a fellowship, which he held until his death in 1846, but he resided mainly in Wales.
Although Evans was ordained, he came to public attention as a poet rather than as a priest.
He had no clerical appointments thereafter. In 1819, he was involved with the Dyfed Cambrian Society"s attempt to revive the eisteddfod, and was also elected as poet to the London-based Gwyneddigion Society.
He had a particular skill for love and nature poetry. His collected works were published in 1830 under the title Gwinllan y bardd, with an expanded second edition in 1872 drawing on unpublished sources.
A third edition was published in 1906.
He wrote in classical forms as well as in modern style. Whilst Evans did write a few poems in English, these are regarded as of lesser merit than his Welsh poems. Though highly regarded in the nineteenth century, his reputation has fallen in later times.
Evans, who suffered from depression, committed suicide in Maesnewydd, Llanwnnen, Cardiganshire on 28 March 1846, and was buried on 1 April 1846 at Pencarreg, Carmarthenshire.
