 In 1916 he took second place at the Aberystwyth National Eisteddfod with "Ystrad Fflur", an awdl written in honour of Strata Florida, the medieval Cistercian abbey ruins in Ceredigion.He maintained an ambition to win the National Eisteddfod chair the following year.Hedd Wyn was a Christian pacifist and did not enlist for the war initially, feeling he could never kill anyone.