Dafydd ap Gwilym
One of Wales' greatest poets
- Born:
-
c1320
- Place of Birth:
- Brogynin, Penrhynoch
- Biography:
-
Little is known about the life of medieval poet Dafydd ap Gwilym, but it's generally accepted that he was born in Brogynin, Penrhyncoch, some five miles east of Aberystwyth.
As a small boy, he and his parents moved to Llanbadarn Fawr, Aberystwyth, and he's also thought to have spent time with relatives in Newcastle Emlyn.
His family were part of the Welsh aristocracy and he had enough money to travel throughout Wales, visiting the taverns in the Norman boroughs and the great houses of the gentry, entertaining them with his Welsh-language cywyddau (rhymed couplets).
His poems show that he was trained in the country's bardic art and connect him historically with the native "Poets of the Princes" who wrote in poems of praise for princely patrons.
He was also influenced by young wandering scholars from Provence and France, known in Wales as Y Gler, and he followed their themes of nature and courtly love, devoting many of his poems to the golden-haired Morfudd and the raven-haired Dyddgu.
He brought a racy, colloquial dialogue and a new light-heartedness into the poetic formalities of the age, as exemplified by his poem Merched Llanbadarn (The Girls of Llanbadarn):
I bend before this passion; a plague on the parish girls!
Since, o force of my longing, I have never had one of them!
Not one sweet and hoped-for maiden,
Not one young girl, or hag, nor wife,
What recoil, what malicious thoughts,
What omission makes them not want me?
What harm is it to a thick-browed girl to have me in the dark, dense wood?
It would not be shameful for her
To see me in a den of leaves.
Dafydd ap Gwilym's innovative use of new subject-matter and metrical techniques gave a new dimension to the poetic art in Wales. His fusion of bardic tradition with more modern influences elevated Welsh poetry into the mainstream of European literature, long before English was committed to paper for the first time by Chaucer.
He died around 1380 and it's widely accepted that he was buried at Strata Florida Abbey, near Pontrhydfendigaid in Ceredigion. The abbey itself is now in ruins but there is a slate memorial in the grounds, dedicated to the man considered to be one of Wales' greatest poets.
- Off the Record:
- As well as a great poet, Dafydd ap Gwilym also had a reputation as a great lover!
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