Gwilym

The fourteenth century Welsh bard, Dafydd ap Gwilym, left a lasting impression on the poetry of his age: verse which often addressed preoccupations we still share today. This collection includes love poems, a lament for a felled tree, extravagant praises for wealthy patrons - including the Welsh freedom-fighter Owain Glyndŵr - scurrilous satires on friars, newfangled harps and prickly beards, a curse on a violent husband, and Gwerful Mechain’s unapologetically explicit song of praise for her own genitals. Giles Watson’s lively reinterpretations in modern English give a strong impression of the vivacity and daring of the originals. Some of the poems contain explicit language, reflecting the earthy humour of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.