Welsh Studies EARLY and MEDIEVAL LITERATURE

Welsh Studies

EARLY AND MEDIEVAL LITERATURE

By JENNY RowLAND, Department of Welsh, University College, Dublin

It is not often that two books appear with a portion of previously unedited early Welsh poetry.]. E. C. Williams et al., Gwaith Meilyr Brydydd a'i Ddisgynyddion, Cardiff, Univ. of Wales Press, xxiv + 562 pp., continue the series editing the entire corpus of Gogynfeirdd poetry, in this case poems from the beginning of that tradition and from the best-known bardic family. The format remains the same, although notes are more copious. M. Haycock, Blodeugerdd Barddas o Ganu Crejjddol Cynnar, Llandybie, Cyhoeddiadau Barddas, xxi + 385 pp., excludes the Gogynfeirdd, but provides a very welcome edition of the religious poetry of the early Middle Ages, including many previously unedited poems from the Book of Taliesin. Apart from the texts, interlinear translations, and extensive notes, each poem has a comprehensive introduction placing the poem in the context ofWelsh and western Christian traditions. A. Breeze, 'Master John ofSt David's, a new twelfth-century poet?', BEGS, 40:73-82, proposes recognizing a new poet, arguing that five religious poems from the Hanes Taliesin cycle and the Black Book ofCarmarthen may be ascribed to a 12th-c. priest of St Davids.]. E. C. Williams, 'Y Bardd Celtaidd', LlC, IB: 7-I5, A. 0. H.Jarman, 'Yr Hengerdd', ib., I6-25. R. G. Gruffydd, 'Beirdd yTywysogion', ib., 26-37, and P. Mac Cana, 'Y Canu Mawl yn lwerddon', ib., 38-52, provide in print the texts of a series oflectures delivered in I 99 I on Welsh poetry from the earlier. medieval period, and comparative evidence from records of the continental Celtic bards and medieval Irish bardic poetry. As might be expected, the lectures present a synthesis of scholarship, enlivened by response to controversy and fresh thinking. S. L. Higley, Between Languages: The Uncooperative Text in Early Welsh and Old English Nature Poetry, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State U.P., 3I4 pp., com• pares Old English elegies with early Welsh lyrics, stressing the differences in metre, style, and syntax. Text and translations are given of key poems. Dafyddjohnston, A Pocket Guide to the Literature of Wales, Cardiff, Univ. ofWales Press, 145 pp., devotes about one-third of its space to medieval literature. There is a useful general survey, key texts or authors are wisely highlighted in each chapter, and brief translated extracts are given as illustrations. J. Koch, 'Thoughts on the Ur-Gododin: Rethinking Aneirin and Mynydawc MWynvawr', LSc, I 5: 8 I -89, offers a new approach to the textual history of The Gododdin, looks again at the question ofStrathclyde transmission, and suggests Mynyddog is not the name of the Gododdin king, but a common noun for the men ofEidyn. D. N. Klausner, 'The topos of the Early and Medieval Literature beasts ofbattle in early Welsh poetry', Leyerle Vol., 247-63, compares the usage of this topos in Old English and early Welsh poetry. G. R. Isaac, 'Canu Aneirin Awdl LI',JCLin, 2: 65-9I, attempts to establish the textual history of one awdl with three variants and account for scribal variation. He gives data suggesting the B-text of the Gododdin is derived from two sources, one considerably more archaic than the other. T. Conran, 'The ballad and Taliesin', CMCS, 28: I-24, notes points of similarities between the border ballads and the poems ascribed to Taliesin, particularly in terms of oral compositional structures. Several articles analyse points of hengerdd metrics from a linguistic standpoint. T. D. Griffen, 'Mesotomic syllables in Armes Prydein', LSc, I5:9I-106, and 'Nonsyllabics in Armes Prydein', JCLin, 3:75-93, postulates two new metrical 'rules' which would give greater regularity to the syllabic count of the cyhydedd naw ban in Armes Prydein. G. R. Isaac, 'Mydr a morffonemeg yn yr Hengerdd', BBCS, 40: I-I6, argues that morphonemic variants, like alliteration of lenited and unlenited consonants, remained in the poets' metrical vocabulary in the medieval period, thus largely invalidating dating by restoration of archaic consonance. T. D. Griffen, 'Generic consonant correspon• dences in Canu Aneirin', JCLin, 2:93-105, also deals with generic alliteration (and generic rhyme), arguing for phonological rules governing final and initial positions. Some ofhis alliterative 'rules' are radical and would benefit from demonstration that the effect is intentional. P. C. Bartrum, A Welsh Classical Dictionary: People in History and Legend up to about A.D. woo, Aberystwyth, National Library ofWales, 649 pp., is a very valuable and comprehensive biographical diction• ary for the early period. It is strongest on primary sources, particularly the genealogies. N. Hooper, 'The Aberlemno stone and cavalry in Anglo-Saxon England', Northern History, 29: I 88--96, and C. Cessford, 'Cavalry in early Bernicia: a reply', ib., I85-87, assert the historical plausibility of cavalry warfare depicted in The Gododdin. 0. J. Padel, 'The nature ofArthur', CMCS, 27: I-3I, amasses a wealth of evidence suggesting Arthur was a pan-Brythonic figure of folklore historicized in the early medieval period. P. Sims-Williams, 'Histori• cal need and literary narrative: a caveat from ninth-century Wales', WHR, I 7: I-40, counters the various theories propounded about supposed political or historical 'needs' behind the composition of the Llywarch Hen cycle ,of poems. P. Mac Cana, 'Ir. buaball, W. bual "Drinking Horn" ', Eriu, 44, I 993: 8 I -g3, examines the semantics of words for 'animal horn' and 'drinking vessel', looking in detail at usage in Hirlas Owain.