Notes

The hawthorn is the subject of this poem. The abundance of white flowers which appear in May and June are conveyed in images such as manod liw (the hue of snow) and liw cafod ewyn (the colour of a spray of foam) as are the berries which change from green in spring to bright red in autumn (liw sirian the colour of cherries), see L. J. F. Brimble, Trees in Britain (London, 1964), 179–84. The hawthorn is also personified as an armed soldier on account of its bark, and this theme is given a prominent place in the poem. In certain respects the poem resembles 'Yr Eos' (poem 153). We learn that Eiddig, the jealous husband, had destroyed the birch tree in which the nightingale, the poet's messenger, used to sing. Similarly an unnamed enemy has spoilt the hawthorn and the soldier image is sustained when the poet claims that it has suffered a severe battle wound. Although the poet wishes to see the culprit hanged, it is the intrinsic beauty of the tree rather than its significance as a love setting which incites his anger and desire for revenge. In this respect the poem complements Gruffudd ab Adda's lament following the felling of the birch tree and its removal from its natural habitat to the centre of Llanidloes in order to serve as may–pole, see DGG poem LXV.

The poem is attributed to Dafydd ap Gwilym in all the 22 extant manuscripts. Although Thomas Parry recognised that the poem could have been composed in the 14th c. he was reluctant to accept that it belonged to Dafydd (Parry 1952: clxxxiv). It was included in four manuscripts copied in the second half of the 16th c (Gw 25, M 147, C 7, Ll 120) but did not form part of the two compilations prepared by John Davies, Mallwyd (Pen 49) and Thomas Wiliems (H 26). The version copied in C 7, Ll 120 and CM 23 from which most later versions derive contains only 18 lines but includes lines 25–6 which are absent in Gw 25.