Dafydd ap Gwilym

“ As before observed, Davyth ap Gwilym has been compared to Petrarch; and no doubt his personal history bears in one respect a strong and interesting resemblance to that of the Italian poet. But in all the peculiarities of his genius, our bard approaches more nearly to Burns than to any poet, whether of his own or other countries. He has the same originality, the same intense sympathy with nature, and, above all, the same magic transitions from satire and raillery to wild sublimity and deep pathos. ”

“ Ivor was the patron of the bard. The following translation is introduced—not on account of any poetical beauty in the ideas—but as a specimen of the style adopted by the Welsh bards in addressing their patrons.
Ivor, generous as gold,
Meek and beauteous to behold,
Yet the boldest in the fray—
Is the master I obey;
None but men of matchless might
Dare attend him in the fight!
Bounteous Ivor made the bard
Steward o’er his wealth to guard;
Chieftain, eloquent, refined,
Fierce in wrath, yet wise in mind,
To the bard a golden hoard
Is the goodness of his lord. ”

“ TO MORVYTH,
WHEN SHE MARRIED HUNCHBACK.
Too long I’ve loved the fickle maid,
My love is turned to grief and pain;
In vain delusive hopes I stray’d,
Through days that ne’er will dawn again;
And she, in beauty like the dawn,
From me has now her heart withdrawn! ”

“ Blood from my feet and from my nose!
Thou rugged heap, thou cumbrous mass,
That wilt not let a stranger pass;
Like a bear’s skull—may the sun’s light
Melt and disperse thy wintry height,
And break thy snowy forts—and may
The gallows tree the wretch repay,
The man of infamy and guilt,
Who thy untoward turrets built!
Ah, fatal haste! that made me break
My nose for beauteous Morvyth’s sake! ”

“ The sea-kings had the same honour, but they were only a portion of those pirates or vikingr who in the ninth century were covering the ocean. Not only the children of the kings, but every man of importance equipped ships, and roamed the seas to acquire property by force. Piracy was not only the most honourable occupation, and the best harvest of wealth—it was not only consecrated to public estimation by the illustrious who pursued it, but no one was esteemed noble—no one was respected, who did not return in the winter to his home with ships laden with booty. ”

“ That she will not always stay!
Maidens never hear of love,
But when she has plumed the grove,—
Giver of the gift of song
To the poet’s heart and tongue.
May! majestic child of heaven,
To the earth in glory given! ”

“ Green is that arbour to behold,
And on its withes thick showers of gold!
Joy to the poet and the maid,
Whose paradise is yonder shade!
Oh! flowers of noblest splendour, these
Are summer’s frost-work on the trees! ”

“ Thrice happy the man who thy beauty shall win;
Thou wilt not be mine for abundance of song—
I know that thou wilt not, while thou art yet young;
But still I despair not, enchantress divine!
When nobody’ll have thee, thou then shalt be mine!
In the next poem he asks the roebuck to be his love-envoy to Dyddgu, telling him that he has nothing to fear from the hounds of the “tall baron;” that if they pursue him he may hide himself in the fern. He adds, that if he carries the love-letter safe to Dyddgu he will be rewarded.
No hand shall flay thee; thou shalt live in health and joy ”

“ Glamorganshire, in its northern districts, is occupied by wild and romantic mountains, from the foot of which to the sea extends the rich vale of Glamorgan, proverbially called the garden of Wales. In this latter division, the climate is so mild that the products of the more southern countries of Europe are found to ripen in the open air; hence there is a peculiar splendour in the opening of this poem, where the bard contrasts the bleak mountains of North Wales, amongst which he is a sojourner, with this delicious region, in favour of which he invokes all the gifts of the summer and the sun. ”

“ IMITATION OF LLYWARCH HÊN’S LAMENT OVER CYNDDYLAN.
Llywarch Hên was a prince and bard of the seventh century. His works have been published by Dr. W. Owen Pughe, with a prose translation. The following is an imitation of his Elegy on Cynddylan, lord of the district about Shrewsbury, who was cut off by an incursion of the Saxons.
Cynddylan’s hearth is dark to-night,
Cynddylan’s halls are lone,
War’s flame has revell’d o’er their might,
And quell’d their minstrel’s tone,
And I am left to chaunt apart
One murmur of a broken heart! ”

“ Ere they sever and depart,
Glean from ocean’s shores and caves
Gems of nature and of art—
Shall we more regardless be
Than the tempest and the sea
Of the treasures we inherit,
Of our fathers’ heart and spirit! ”

“ How oft, in May’s short nights of old,
To my love-messenger and me
Thou didst a couch of leaves unfold!
Thou wert a house of melody,—
Proud music soared from every bough;
Ah! those who loved thee sorrow now! ”

“ And death amid the darkness found.
At dawn awaking from the pain
And terror that had racked my brain,
With mournful heart I learned too well
The meaning of that dream to spell.
Long years a constant suit I’ve paid
To Morvyth, the ungrateful maid [1] . ”

“ DISTURBS THE BARD’S SLEEP.
Wretched owlet! worthless bird!
Always are her accents heard;
She must ever wail and cry—
While the stars are in the sky!
I can never rest or sleep
For the noise she loves to keep! ”

“ Of the merit of our poet’s productions it is almost superfluous to speak: the meed of praise, awarded by his contemporaries, has received the sanction of four centuries, and Davyth ap Gwilym is still regarded as one of the most eminent of the Welsh bards, whether we estimate him by the originality of his genius, or the harmonious character of his versification. ”

“ Godwin’s Life of Chaucer an eloquent passage which is equally applicable to the Cambro-British bard and to his great contemporary, the father of English poetry.
“The adventures of romance and the tales of the minstrels were listened to by him with avidity. Tales of chivalry, of generous enterprise, and heroic adventure had a double interest with him, because he knew that when he went forth into the world, the men of whom he read, a race that is now extinct, would be the objects of his daily observation and intercourse. The whole world was then romantic, scenic, and sublime. ”

“ Without a yard of territorial property—with no wealth but their ships—no force but their crews—and no hope but from their sword, they swarmed upon the boisterous ocean, and plundered in every district they could approach. ”

“ Beside them the castle of tyranny soars,
The rock and the mountain are far from their shores!
Then ne’er will I quit the free river and proud,
That floats o’er her rocks like a ladder of cloud,
With her wild thronging billows, now soften’d, now shrill,
Like the laugh of fair infants that sport o’er the hill—
Now all glowing with light, now all snowy with foam,
Like the maids of the land of my heart and my home!
↑
‘A zone to the land of my home and my heart!’
This line is an allusion to the course which the Wye takes along the borders of Wales. ”

“ And as thou float’st, the fairy tribe
Make thy long flaggy skirts their gibe!
Fleece of the rock—cowl of the heav’n,
Thou banish’d wave from ocean driv’n;
Cloud of the crooked mountain tow’r,
Canst thou not burst one single hour? ”

“ The beauteous Elen [1] of my heart,
Fair as the waxen forms of art,
I love with all devotion true—
But, ah! another loves her too!
A rival—mid wild Snowdon dwelling,
A minstrel of his Awen [2] vain,
But still a bard, most bards excelling,—
Of him, sir envoy, I complain! ”

“ The woodcock promised me to bear
The lady’s message to thy ear—
The woodcock, guest with ruddy hair—
When he should come with thee to dwell,
And with him bring the icicle!
BARD.
When did he promise to be here? ”

“ Before I dare again to climb
The mountain precipice sublime—
Or rove amid the mountain rocks—
Or seek to quaff on yonder hill,
The mead, with her of glossy locks;
Oh, love to danger leads us still! ”

“ House of the birds of Paradise,
Round fane impervious to the skies;
On whose green roof two nights of rain
May fiercely beat, and beat in vain!
I know thy leaves are ever scathless;
The hardened steel as soon will blight ”

“ The mind of man was not yet broken down into a dull monotony.”
No doubt exists that all these, the more splendid characteristics of the age of chivalry, were daily before the eyes of the Welsh bard. The county of Glamorgan, in which he spent the greatest part of his life, was in his time studded with proud feudal castles, and superb ecclesiastical edifices in the finest style of architecture, many of which still excite admiration even in their ruins. In the hospitable mansion of his patron he appears to have enjoyed all the peculiar amusements of that festive period. ”

“ On oak and knoll the song of spring.
And blackbird’s note of ecstasy
Burst loudly from the woodbine tree,
Till all the world is thronged with gladness—
Her multitudes have done with sadness!
Oh, Summer! do I ask in vain? ”

“ Amid the woods their jewels rise,
Like gleam of starlight o’er the skies—
Like golden bullion, glorious prize!
How sweet the flowers that deck that floor,
In one unbroken glory blended—
Those glittering branches hovering o’er—
Veil by an angel’s hand extended.
Oh! if my love will come, her bard
Will, with his care, her footsteps guard,
There, where no stranger dares to pry,
Beneath yon Broom’s green canopy!
↑
‘Bright as the ship of glass of yore,
That Merddin o’er the ocean bore.’
‘Merddin,’ or ‘Merlin,’ is said to have crossed the ocean in a magic ship made of glass. ”

“ TO THE GULL.
The bard asks the gull to be his love-envoy to Morvyth. Morvyth (Morfydd) was a lady to whom the poet was attached through life, and whose beauty forms the chief theme of his poems.
Bird that dwellest in the spray,
White as yon moon’s calm array,
Dust thy beauty ne’er may stain,
Sunbeam-gauntlet of the main [1] ! ”

“ But beauty’s form should spurn each false disguise,
For love, in beauty’s charms, no fault descries!
Would the pure radiance of the warlike mail,
That hangs on yon white wall with glimm’rings pale,
Gleam brightly thus, if muffled and concealed
In the long tabard [1] —that with many a shield
And many a rich emblazonry is dyed
By painter’s hand, and all diversified
With rare devices?—On the brow of snow,
E’en thus no diadem fresh glory can bestow!
↑ ‘In the long tabard.’ A tabard was a dress worn over the armour, and emblazoned with devices. ”

“ Hence it is, that we often perceive in the literary remains of those days, that strange mixture of satire and superstition which is so prominent a feature of the ecclesiastical allusions of Davyth ap Gwilym. In this respect, also, he bears a close resemblance to Chaucer. In their religious sentiments both these poets are in fact to be regarded rather as representatives of the views of the more enlightened men of their age, than in the light of original and independent thinkers. ”

“ Like avalanche, whose earth-born thunders hear
Alike the bugle of the mountaineer,
And a whole army’s warlike revelries!
Thus thou each voice that near thy dwelling lingers
With elfin murmurs dost salute,
Till the whole mountain fastness to thy fingers
Trembles instinct with music like a lute! ”

“ The beneficial influence of this continual change of scene is very perceptible in the productions of our bard, whose excitable mind appears to have been thus repeatedly roused and invigorated. Without the animating spur of novelty, Davyth ap Gwilym, like many other men of genius, might often have sunk into despondency under the monotonous influence of a common-place existence. We have every reason to believe that the spirit-stirring and adventurous life which he led was highly propitious to the development of his energies ”

“ Two gifts in thee, fair bird, unite
To glean the fish in yonder lake,
And bending o’er yon hills thy flight
A glance at earth and sea to take!
Oh! ’tis a noble task to ride
The billows countless as the snow ”

“ This nun was the daughter of the poet’s patron, Ivor. She was placed in a nunnery in consequence of an attachment that had arisen between her and the bard, while the latter was an inmate of Ivor’s household.
The dark-eyed maid my love has won,
And hence all food and rest I shun. ”

“ The hoarse thunder sudden roar’d,
And in many a furious shower
The clear rain-drops downward pour’d;
The fierce lightning frequent glared.
By the ruthless tempest scared,
In an agony of dread,
From the grove my Morvyth fled!
Beaked flame! dread living thunder,
Rending lovers’ hearts asunder ”

“ Where she tarries to discern;
There his noblest music swells
Through the portals of the dells!
When I am from her away,
I have neither laugh nor lay!
Neither soul nor sense is left,
I am half of mind bereft ”

“ The fondness displayed by Davyth ap Gwilym for the embellishments of the church forms a singular contrast with the acrimony with which he so often assails her priesthood. In the one instance we see the taste of the poet, in the other we recognise the feelings of the man. It is highly interesting to observe that the bard’s fiercest invectives are directed against the eleemosynary clergy—the Franciscan and Dominican friars—who are also the object of Chaucer’s bitterest satire ”

“ As this curious incident may suggest a very erroneous idea of the manners of that age and of the light in which such gifts were viewed in the time of the poet, the following observations, extracted chiefly from Mr. Godwin’s Life of Chaucer, will serve to give a more correct impression of the spirit of the bard’s first present to the lady of his love.
There is reason to believe that wine was often given, merely as a token of honour and esteem, and as being a more delicate offering than a sum of money. ”

“ Edifices ‘white with lime’ continue a distinguishing feature in the landscape. Even the cottages are generally of a dazzling white, and adorned with the woodbine and eglantine—images which so often occur in the productions of the bard.
The last lines of the poem, in which the poet describes himself as gathering flowers to decorate the grave of Ivor, allude to a usage still prevalent in Glamorganshire and other parts of Wales, where it is considered a mark of respect and affection to plant flowers over the remains of the dead. ”