Notes
DGA 39
As he yearns to be with his darling in Eutun Woods, the poet's thoughts turn towards one of the birds of the woodland, the nightingale, which, it seems, had acted as their love–messenger. It is described as a skilled poet and musician, and as a bird of love dear to Ovid himself. He then recalls the occasion, as he listened to the nightingale performing a love–mass amongst the leaves, when it was frightened by a raucous crow, ally of the jealous husband. In order to get rid of the unwelcome visitor he urged it to return home to the Jealous One who, he claimed, was on his death–bed, and to wound him like any other prey. By this ruse he was able to listen once more to the nightingale's more pleasant song.
Despite the fact that the poem is attributed to Dafydd ap Gwilym in all sources, including the early copy in the fifteenth–century manuscript Pen 54, it is not unlikely that it belongs to his contemporary Madog Benfras (on Madog, see Introduction: 'Y Bardd', 21–2). As Thomas Parry noted, GDG1 clxxviii, Eutun Woods were part of Madog's native area, Maelor Gymraeg in north–east Wales. Although the two poems are not found together in the manuscripts, this poem may be paired with the poem to the Nightingale (155) which is a dialogue between Madog and Dafydd cursing those who persecuted the bird in Eutun Woods. That poem may also have been composed by Madog (see introductory note), perhaps inspired by the scenario described here. The poems are similar in terms of cynghanedd, with a high percentage of unadorned lines in the first half of the couplets. And Dafydd's elegy for Madog may contain an allusion to these poems, in the line Digerdd eos befrdlos bach (20.39) — see note.
Whilst the poem's authorship remains an open question, it is worth noting that the manner in which the poet delights in his ruse is reminiscent of the cunning shown by Madog Benfras in the fabliau–type poem 'Yr Halaenwr' (GMBen 5), where he manages to trick the jealous husband by pretending to be a salt dealer. It is also worth bearing in mind that the collection of Dafydd ap Gwilym poems in Pen 54 contains two poems ascribed to Madog Benfras. If some of Madog's poems circulated with the work of Dafydd ap Gwilym there could easily have been some confusion, as was the case with Madog's satire of the Black Friar (A 36) which is attributed to Dafydd in all sources except Pen 54.
Helen Fulton's edition and translation, DGA 39, are based on Pen 54.
4. galluau mawl 'Hosts of praise', probably a reference to the poet's patrons in the Eutun area. The descendants of Meilyr Eutun are likely candidates, perhaps the family of Ieuan ap Madog ap Llywelyn whose father died in 1331, see WG1 'Tudur Trefor' 24. Earlier in the century the Anglesey poet Gruffudd ap Dafydd ap Tudur addressed a love poem to a girl from Eutun, see GGDT no. 4.
9. organ The poem to the Nightingale contains similar musical imagery; cf. especially 155.45 Meistres organau Maestran 'Mistress of the organs of Maestran'.
14. sawtring Psaltery, a stringed instrument with a sounding board or box, see 91.28n. In 'The Melody' the nightingale's song is described as Lleddf ddatbing llwybr sawtring Sais 'a gentle resonance like an Englishman's psaltery' (91.28).
15. Ofydd An apparent reference to Ovid's love poetry (see 95.1n), possibly to the story of the nightingale Philomela in the Metamorphoses, see Bromwich, APDG 117–18. On the nightingale's significance in Classical and medieval literature, see T. A. Shippey, 'Listening to the Nightingale', Comparative Literature, 22 (1970), 46–60. Alternatively, Ofydd may be a description of the poet himself as a lover or love–poet, cf. for instance 58.7n.
34. Iddewes Cf. 108.4 Eiddig leidr, Iddew gwladaidd 'Eiddig the thief, rustic Jew', and see Fulton, DGA p. 222.
43. edn Eiddig 'The Jealous Husband's bird'. Cf. the description of Eiddig as Gŵr yn gweiddi, gorn gwaddawd, / Ar gân fal brân am ei brawd 'a man shouting (horn of dregs) / in song like a crow for its brother' (92.43–4).