Notes
GDG 84
In this poem the characteristic theme of feminine deceit and enchantment is developed more fully. The poem may be divided into three parts. First Dafydd complains that he has honoured the girl with poems and expensive gifts, receiving nothing in return except sleeplessness and the pangs of love. This is another common theme, as seen, for instance, in 'Disappointment' (107). He then accuses her of employing enchantment and magic in order to deceive him, displaying his learning by alluding to several legengary figures associated with sorcery. Two of these, Gwaeddan and Eiddilig Gor, are fairly obscure, but their stories and significance would no doubt have been known to a contemporary audience. Dafydd adds his beloved to a triad of well–known sorcerers, and claims that her own magical powers deserve to be rewarded with a silver harp. He names her 'Enchantress of the Fair Harp', and prophesies that she will achieve equal fame as harpist of deceit.
Finally, having introduced the image of the harp, Dafydd skilfully develops an extended metaphor of the type found, for instance, in 'A Fortress Against Envy' (122). It is a metaphor which expresses the duality of love in the poet's experience: despite the harp's beauty and the enticing melody it produces under the girl's fingers, its very structure is composed of deceit and enchantment. Such is the girl's mastery of her magical instrument — the image may have been suggested by her actual excellence as a harpist — that she deserves the place of honour on feast–day, presumably as master harpist. It may be that the poem was composed especially for that particular festival, to be performed at the girl's home. Although her name is not revealed, the fact that Dafydd is used to praising her at her noble court in Dyfed tends to support the suggestion made by R. Geraint Gruffydd (1985, 174) that the girl in question is Dyddgu who hailed from south Ceredigion. Dyddgu is associated with Dyfed elsewhere (89.17–18). However, according to Rachel Bromwich (SPDG 59), the general tenor of the poem tends to suggest that it is a Morfudd poem. The 'allegorical' treatment of the poem's central image is discussed in a broader European context by Edwards, DGIA 220–1. For a close reading see Fulton, DGEC 129–31.
17. Gwaeddan The following lines hint at a lost tale involving this legendary figure and his cloak (or perhaps his cap). For another possible allusion to the same character, who, it seems, was disappointed or tricked by a girl, see GPB 3.25–8.
26. Dyfed The land of enchantment, cf. 6.1–2, 21; 8.2. In the third branch of the Mabinogi Dyfed is enchanted by Llwyd fab Cil Coed, who is named in line 34 below.
29. Menw The legendary wizard Menw fab Teirgwaedd, named in the Triads and in the tale of Culhwch and Olwen, see TYP2 457–8 and 35–42n. below. He is also referred to in 28.53.
31. uthr As an adjective, 'terrible', but given his association with sorcery in the Triads, see 35–42n. below, there may be an allusion to Uthr Bendragon.
34. Llwyd fab Cel Coed The name appears in a similar form in Culhwch ac Olwen, CO 37; Llwyt uab Kil Coet in the Mabinogi, PKM 64.
35–42. A variation on a triad such as the Three Great Enchantments of the Island of Britain (TYP2 56), which groups together Math fab Mathonwy, Uthr Bendragon (who taught Menw fab Teirgwaedd) and Gwyddelyn Gor. On the magician Menw, see also TYP2 55, 250. Dafydd's triad is discussed by R. Geraint Gruffydd, 'Cywyddau Triawdaidd Dafydd ap Gwilym', YB xiii (1985), 174–5.
40. Eiddilig Gor The forms Eiddilig Gor and Gwyddelyn Gor appear in the Triads. They may be two different characters, see TYP2 338.
42. Math ... rhi Arfon Math fab Mathonwy, lord of Gwynedd, famed for his wizardry. According to the fourth branch of the Mabinogi his court was in Caer Dathl in Arfon. See PKM 249–50, TYP2 448–50.
46. telyn ariant A silver harp, probably presented to the master harpist (pencerdd telyn) on a feast–day. There is evidence that silver harps were presented at eisteddfodau in the late medieval period, e.g. LlC ii, 134; B v, 26.
56. Fferyll The Latin poet Virgil, known as a wizard in the Middle Ages. Cf. 134.32n.
67. Nyf Possibly the legendary Irish heroine Niamh, see 69.8n. and Bromwich, SPDG 60, 62. As a common noun, 'snow'.
68. gwlad Gamber The land of Camber, i.e. Wales. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Camber was a son of Brutus.