Notes

GDG 58

This poem takes the form of a debate between the poet and a maiden who is not named; the debate is rather one–sided in that only six lines are allocated to the maiden. She suggests that she would prefer a soldier to a poet as lover and she chides Dafydd on account of his timidity. Dafydd monopolises the remainder of the cywydd to outline his merits as a poet and to list the disadvantages of the soldier.

Debates in which the merits of the cleric and soldier were compared were not uncommon (Fulton 1989: 103). R. Geraint Gruffydd (1987: 21) suggested that this cywydd might have been composed at about the same time as poem 116 'I Ddymuno Lladd y Gŵr Eiddig' which possibly belongs to 1346, the year of the battle of Crécy. The background of that poem concerns the efforts made by Syr Rhys ap Gruffudd to raise troops to fight in France. Dafydd here suggests that the soldier would gladly leave the maiden should an opportunity to fight in France or Scotland arise. The year 1346 also saw the battle of Neville's Cross near Durham where the Scottish troops were routed and David II, their leader, taken captive.

3. Eigr   Arthur's mother, and a symbol of beauty for the poets, was the daughter of Amlawdd Wledig, see WCD 228–9.

20. llyfr Ofydd    see 95.1n.

48. Deifr   A maiden who, it seems, was renowned for her beauty. She is not mentioned in the Triads and no reference is made to her by the Poets of the Princes. But 15th c. poets knew of her and she is named by Dafydd Nanmor, Guto'r Glyn and Tudur Aled.