Dafydd ap gwilym biography of christopher

14th-century Welsh-language poem

"To the Yew Tree Above Dafydd ap Gwilym's Grave" (Welsh: Yr Ywen uwchben Bedd Dafydd ap Gwilym) is a 14th-century Welsh-language poem in the form of a cywydd, and is usually seen as either an elegy written after the death of Dafydd ap Gwilym or a mock-elegy addressed to him during his lifetime. Its author, Gruffudd Gryg, also wrote another elegy or mock-elegy on his friend Dafydd, and conducted a controversy in verse with him in which Dafydd's poems were criticised and defended. The cywydd on the yew tree constitutes the main evidence for the widespread belief that Dafydd is buried at Strata Florida Abbey (also known as Ystrad Fflur) in Ceredigion. It has been called "a superb poem, perhaps Gruffudd Gryg's best...a remarkably sensitive and perceptive act of poetic homage that acknowledges, far more than any more direct statement ever could, Dafydd's status as a true athro for his generation". It was included in both The Oxford Book of Welsh Verse and The Penguin Book of Welsh Verse.

Summary

Yew at Strata Florida, God's blessing on you! King David prophesied you, and Dafydd described you as his house of green leaves, a castle shielding the dead from the icy wind, "as good as the tree of rods of old". You are noble in every part. Beneath is buried "the beehive of englynion". Woe to Dyddgu, the poet's mistress! May you, good motherly yew, serve the Lord and protect Dafydd's grave. Do not move one step. Goats shall not despoil you, fire shall not burn you, nor shall any carpenter, cobbler or wood-gatherer damage you. Leaves are your covering, yours is a good place. May God glorify your miracles.

Sources

Striking similarities show that Gruffudd's poem was influenced by Dafydd's "The Holly Grove". Both cywyddau are addressed directly to evergreen trees, both promise safe houses to the poet, and both promise that that ho

Poem by Dafydd ap Gwilym

"The Ruin" (Welsh: Yr Adfail) is a cywydd by the 14th-century Welsh poet Dafydd ap Gwilym, widely seen as the greatest of the Welsh poets. In it the poet, considering a ruined house and remembering the love-affair he once conducted there, reflects on the transience of all worldly pleasures. "The Ruin" is commonly supposed to have been written in Dafydd's old age. It has been called one of his most poignant poems, and it was included in The Penguin Book of Welsh Verse, The Oxford Book of Welsh Verse, The Oxford Book of Welsh Verse in English and The Longman Anthology of British Literature.

Synopsis

The poet considers the prospect of a ruined building which was once an inhabited house, and reflects on former days when one of the residents was a woman who loved him and whom he loved, and on the days of pleasure they knew.

Ease and bliss beneath your rafters,
But today is not that day.

The house itself replies, lamenting the damage that the winds have wreaked on it. The poet again contrasts the derelict state of the building with the comfortable love-nest he once knew, and finally wonders whether the wreckage he sees before him is a delusion, but the house ends the poem by assuring the poet that the family have gone to their graves.

Manuscripts

The poem survives in 26 manuscripts. Among the key early manuscripts are Peniarth 182 (written by Sir Huw Pennant of Flintshire around 1514); Hafod 26, also known as Cardiff 4.330 (written by Thomas Wiliems around 1574); Llansteffan 120 (written by Jaspar Gryffyth between about 1597 and 1607); Cwrtmawr 5 (probably written by Ieuan or Ifan Tudur Owen of Dugoed, Mawddwy, early 17th century); and Peniarth 49 (written by John Davies in the early 17th century).

Analysis

"The Ruin" is Dafydd's only poem about a house,^[

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Additional details

Born 2 October 1879 at Epworth, Lincolnshire, son of Charles Christopher Bell and Rachel (née Hughes). His maternal grandfather, John Hughes of Rhuddlan, was a Welsh speaker. Bell received his early education at Nottingham High School. In 1897 he won a scholarship to Oriel College, Oxford, and graduated in Classics. He spent a year at the Universities of Berlin and Halle studing Hellenistic history. In 1903 he was appointed an Assistant in the Department of Manuscripts at the British Museum. He was promoted Deputy Keeper in 1927, and Keeper in 1929, the post in which he remained until his retirement in 1944. In 1946 he went to live at Aberystwyth, naming his house Bro Gynin, a sign of his respect for the poet Dafydd ap Gwilym.

As a scholar Bell's special interest was in papyrology, the subject of two articles as early as 1907. At the same time he was also assisting in the preparation of catalogues of material in the British Museum; the fourth volume of the catalogue (1917) and the fifth (1924) were entirely his own responsibility. He thus acquired an extensive knowledge of the history of Egypt, and articles and bibliographies by him appeared regularly in learned journals, especially the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology. He also contributed to the Cambridge Ancient History. In 1935 he was appointed Honorary Reader in Document Papyrology in Oxford, a position he held till 1950. His standing as a scholar was now very high, and his knowledge of all kinds of documents - legal, social or literary - was unsurpassed. He was president o