The Cynfeirdd: Early Welsh poets and poetry

by A.O.H. Jarman

135 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[dragonhelmuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty cool book on the earliest poetry of the early cynfeirdd (C6-9) and the later (C9-11) up to the time of the gogynfeirdd. Really amazing in how it brings the boringest poetry to life, I shall never look down on “critical reading” ever again. Even Y Gododdin sounds cool when Jarman describes it. I also didn’t know just how closely the whole of henn ogledd was related, especially Llywarch Hen, Taliesin and Aneirin. Only one direct quote because from a boring paperback:

In the ‘Gododdin’ pride is the dominant and prevailing theme, pride in the assembled warriors riding forth to battle, pride in the fallen heroes who had remained steadfast until overwhelmed by the enemy, deeming posthumous fame to be of more value than life itself. The same sentiment impelled Llywarch to urge all his twenty-four sons to go forth to battle and to their inevitable doom. It was only hen the full consequences of his arrogance became plain to him, after the death of Gwen, that doubts came to trouble the years of his decline.

Thus, early Welsh poetry contains unmistakeably clear expressions of both heroic and anti-heroic conceptions of human conduct. The former is, admittedly more fully stated than the latter. There are, of course, parallels in other literatures…