Notes

GDG 59

Dafydd ap Gwilym in this poem thanks Morfudd for a hat of birch twigs but he delays naming the donor until the closing line. He interprets the gift as a token of Morfudd's affection and he proceeds to praise the birch trees which had supplied the material for the making of the hat; he also describes the hat and compares it to a garland, a crown and a belt. Dafydd further comments that Eiddig, Morfudd's jealous husband, would be most displeased should he know of the gift. The birch was a traditional symbol of love and Dafydd acknowledges receipt of a similar gift in poem 19.

Cymeriad llythrennol (the repeating of the first consonant at the beginning of each line) is prominent throughout the short poem. The first section however (lines 1–12) is linked by the repeating of a vowel in every line (with the exception of line 11).

32. Morfudd Llwyd   Morfudd is called Morfudd Llwyd on another occasion, see 105.48. Whereas it is possible that the adjective Llwyd (grey), common in Welsh personal names, was indeed Morfudd's full name, D. J. Bowen proposed an alternative interpretation in the light of Dafydd's suggestion that he and Morfudd were secretly betrothed. Medieval marriages were less formal and did not require the service of an ecclesiastical representative. It is not inconceivable that Dafydd [Llwyd ap Gwilym Gam] is here attributing his own name to Morfudd's, see 'Dafydd ap Gwilym a Cheredigion', LlC 14 (1981–4), 188.