Notes

GDG 39

This cywydd is based on the idea of a dream vision. Dafydd explains that he had a dream in which he saw himself in the guise of a huntsman on the trail of a hind. He eventually manages to capture it, and then suddenly awakes as he becomes aware of the hind's bare nostrils and breathing in close proximity to his face. The poet subsequently enlists the aid of an old lady who interprets the events which occurred in the dream. The hind, she explains, is the lady he loves, and he can expect her to succumb much in the same way as the hind was tamed by the huntsman.

The dream and its interpretation is reminiscent of the tale 'Breuddwyd Macsen Wledig'. The emperor Macsen rests after hunting, falls asleep, and meets a beautiful young maiden after an adventurous journey over land and sea. He wakes as the two embrace. He eventually finds the maiden of his dream with the assistance of the Seven Sages of Rome, and the two are united. The poet Iolo Goch, one of Dafydd's contemporaries, based his cywydd to Syr Hywel y Fwyall on a dream vision but his poem follows an entirely different trail, see GIG II; A. Cynfael Lake, 'Breuddwyd Iolo Goch' YB 15 (1988), 109–20.

This poem was recorded in at least 30 manuscripts and was attributed to Dafydd ap Gwilym in all cases. Although the diction and style are straightforward — only a handful of compound words are employed throughout — Thomas Parry did not question the authorship of the cywydd. Many of the manuscript versions were copied during the course of the 18th c. The versions correspond closely but the simple diction would account for this. The number and order of lines however vary, suggesting oral transmission.