Love poetry
Dafydd is famous for his love poetry and for his descriptions of nature. Often these two themes are combined in the same poem. His best-known works include the following poems:
Mis Mai (May), a celebration of the coming of summer, love's season. In the poem Dafydd describes how he was welcomed by a girl in the woods "under May's chancel". She is not named by she may be Morfudd (compare Taith i Garu, where he describes once making love to Morfudd in a birch grove, and Offeren y Llwyn, where the birdsong is compared to a religious service). All 27 couplets of the poem end in the word Mai, with the rhyme -ai in every verse.
Yr Haf (Summer). Dafydd describes the beauty of the summer, and looks forward to making love to a girl under the trees. But Eiddig (the Jealous Husband) likes only winter. In the last section, however, he grows fearful that the summer will soon give way to autumn and he will be asking "Where's the summer?" Like Mis Mai, this poem has the same rhyme throughout, since every couplet ends in the word haf "summer".
Y Deildy (The House of Leaves). With vivid imagery, Dafydd describes a beautiful house of leaves which the month of May and the various song-birds have built for him in the woods. Here a beautiful girl once welcomed him, and he anticipates hopefully that she may come to him there again. At the end he mentions an old witch he had to bribe and a house where he suffered violence. The girl's name is not mentioned but she may be Morfudd, judging from parallels with other poems such as Taith i Garu, in which he describes once making love to Morfudd in the woods. It appears from Tri Phorthor Eiddig (Three Gatekeepers of the Jealous One) that the old witch is the servant who informs the girl's husband that Dafydd is trying to enter his house.
Yr Wylan (The Seagull). Dafydd describes the beauty of a seagull and asks it to carry a message to his love. The anonymous girl lives in a castle by the sea, and appears not be Morfudd, since she has copper-coloured hair.
Yr Ehedydd (The Skylark). Dafydd describes the beauty of a skylark and its voice. He asks it to take a message from him to a certain woman in Gwynedd and to bring back some kisses for him. He advises it to fly high and not to fear the arrows of the jealous husband.
Ymddiddan â'r Cyffylog (Conversation with the Woodcock) Dafydd asks a woodcock where it is going; the woodcock says it is fleeing from the winter weather. Dafydd encourages the bird to take shelter where his girlfriend is; but if a hunter approaches, it is to fly away and lead the hunter far away through the woods. He asks the bird to report to him if the girl is unfaithful. The woodcock tells him it is too late, and she has another man. Dafydd rues his ill luck.
Cyngor y Bioden (The Magpie's Advice) Dafydd is in a delightful wood at the beginning of April, composing a song about a girl. Among the various songbirds there is a magpie, who tells him that he is wasting his time and that he would be better off indoors by the fire. Dafydd asks the magpie for advice. The magpie tells him that he is a foolish man and that the girl does not love him. Dafydd is angry and vows to punish the bird.
Many of Dafydd's poems humorously describe his unsuccessful attempts to seduce women. Here are some:
Merched Llanbadarn (The Girls of Llanbadarn), in which he speaks of going to church on Sunday in order to ogle the local girls, but fails to impress them. The metre is unusually simple, and 43% of the lines have no cynghanedd. (Llanbadarn church, dedicated to St Padarn, is on the eastern outskirts of modern Aberystwyth.)
Trafferth mewn Tafarn (Trouble at a Tavern), in which Dafydd comically recounts the difficulties he faces trying to meet his lover in a tavern but by knocking over a table in the dark only succeeds in waking everybody up.
Sarhau ei Was (Insulting his Servant). Another comic poem. At the fair on St Peter's Day in the town of Newborough, Anglesey, Dafydd spots an attractive young woman. Later that evening he sends his servant to her with a gift of wine, but the girl indignantly pours the wine over the servant's head. Dafydd ends the poem by cursing the girl.
Y Rhugl Groen (The Rattle Bag), in which Dafydd's open-air intercourse with a girl is cruelly interrupted by a shepherd with a rattle bag. (The rhugl groen was an instrument used to create noise to keep birds and animals away from agricultural land. It was a leather pouch filled with pebbles and placed on top of a long stick, which would be shaken to create a sound).
Y Llwynog (The Fox). While waiting to meet a girl in a wood, Dafydd is disturbed by a fox. He aims an arrow at it, but misses and his bow breaks. The second half of the poem is a vivid half-admiring description of the fox, ending with the line "a leopard with a dart in its backside".
Y Cyffylog (The Woodcock). Dafydd describes the tribulations of waiting for a girl on a frosty night (which he contrasts with the woods in May). He was making love to a girl when suddenly they were disturbed by a woodcock running noisily out of a bush, making them fear it was the girl's husband. He describes the woodcock in unflattering terms and hopes that someone will shoot it with an arrow.
Caru yn y Gaeaf (Love in the Winter). One freezing winter's night, drunk from the tavern, Dafydd taps on the window of his beloved's house, but succeeds only in waking her jealous husband, who calls the neighbours and chases Dafydd out of town. He flees to the woods where he once made love to the girl, but finds everything bare and cold. Six couplets are devoted to describing the icicles which drip on his neck as he stands at the window.
Y Ffenestr (The Window). Dafydd makes his way through a grove to the window of his beloved's bedroom; but she refuses to kiss him. He is reminded of the famous window in Caerlleon through which Melwas stole King Arthur's wife Guinevere; but though he waited for a while in the snow, he got no reward, since the bars of the window were too thick. He curses the window and the man who made it.
Y Cwt Gwyddau (The Goose Shed). Dafydd reaches his lover's house and has just begun a conversation with her when the furious husband chases him away. Dafydd hides in a shed for geese, where he is viciously attacked by a nine-year-old mother goose. Afterwards his girlfriend commiserates with him and he vows to take vengeance on the goose. – The poem bears a strong resemblance to the fabliaux which were popular in France in the 13th and 14th centuries. As with The Girls of Llanbadarn, there are a large number of lines (36%) without any cynghanedd.
Tri Phorthor Eiddig (Eiddig's Three Gatekeepers). The first part of the poem describes the three "gatekeepers" of Eiddig (the Jealous Husband): a fierce dog, a creaking door, and an old female servant who has difficulty sleeping. Dafydd then tells how the night before last when he came to the back door of his beloved's house, he was attacked by the dog, which took a bite out of his cloak, then the door made a frightful noise, and finally he could hear the old woman warning the husband. Dafydd retreated and he and the girl shot arrows of love at each other. He consoles himself that at least he has the freedom of the woods and fields, perhaps referring to the situation at this period when Welsh people were often excluded from fortified towns.
Y Drych (The Mirror) Dafydd looks at his face in a round mirror and is dismayed to see how ugly and ill he looks. He concludes that either he is a bad person or the mirror is false, and he curses it. But if he really is so wrinkly, the cause must be the girl from Gwynedd for whom he is pining.
Cywydd y Gal (A Poem in Praise of the Penis), in which complains that his penis has often got him into trouble, while at the same time boasting about it. Until recently it was not included in editions of Dafydd's works.
Y Bardd a'r Brawd Llwyd (The Poet and the Grey Friar). Dafydd confesses to a friar that he can't stop loving and singing about a certain girl, although she will not love him back. The friar advises him to give up singing sinful cywyddau and say prayers instead. The rest of the poem gives Dafydd's reply, and he argues that it is God's will for men to love women. "All gaiety comes from heaven, and sadness from hell." He therefore refuses to give up singing cywyddau about love. – The poem is written in the simple popular traethodl metre, which is like the usual cywydd deuair hirion but without strict rules of rhyme and almost no cynghanedd.
Caer Rhag Cenfigen (A Fortress Against Envy). Dafydd declares that Britons from Roman times have been jealous and obstructive, as they are to him now, just because he is handsome and talented. But his heart is a fortress which is proof against all the gossips. Developing this metaphor at length he reveals that he is in love with Angharad. He prays to God to protect him from the envious detractors. – It is thought that this Angharad is probably Angharad the wife of the nobleman Ieuan Llwyd of Glyn Aeron, for both of whom he wrote eulogies (see below). There is evidence that Angharad was a patron of love poetry.
The beloved most often mentioned in Dafydd's poems is Morfudd (Welsh pronunciation: ['mɔrvɨð]). She was apparently the wife of an Aberystwyth merchant and she seems to have had a long affair with Dafydd. Her name (Morfudd or Forfudd) features in 40 poems, including the following:
Morfudd fel yr Haul (Morfudd Like the Sun). Dafydd describes Morfudd's beauty and her complexion, comparing it to snow or foam. He admits: "Her deceit and trickery is enormous, worse than anything, and (yet) she is my darling." He compares her to the sun, which shines brightly during the day, but disappears at night, when Morfudd goes to join her husband.
Mis Mai a Mis Tachwedd (May and November) The poem is also sometimes called Mis Mai a Mis Ionawr (May and January). The poem itself refers only to yr mis dig du ("the nasty black month"), but the editor Dafydd Johnston argues that November is meant, not January. Dafydd describes May as like a knight, "conquering every green vale". Dafydd is excited to remember Morfudd at this time. He contrasts May with "the nasty black month" which strips the leaves from the trees and is inimical to lovers.
Y Don ar Afon Dyfi (The Wave on the River Dyfi) Travelling back from North Wales, Dafydd is frustrated to find the River Dyfi (or Dovey) in full spate, preventing him from seeing Morfudd.
Gwawd Morfudd (Morfudd's Mockery): Dafydd addresses Morfudd's declaration that she does not want a lover with a monk's tonsure. He denies that he has ever been a monk, flatters her, and reminds her how they had once made love in her bed.
Y Gwynt (The Wind): Dafydd describes the wind and begs it to go to Morfudd to tell her how wretched he is without her. According to the editor Dafydd Johnston, lines 17–8 and 49 suggest that Dafydd was exiled from the district as a result of legal action of y Bwa Bach. Y Bwa Bach ("the Little Bow") was the nickname of Morfudd's husband. (There was in fact according to contemporary documents a man called Y Bwa Bychan who acted for the reeve of the commote of Perfedd near Aberystwyth in 1339-40, and whose son Maredudd was beadle of the neighbouring commote of Genau’r Glyn in 1357–8. Dafydd's home of Brogynin was situated in Perfedd.)
Offeren y Llwyn (The Woodland Mass). Early in the morning Dafydd is in the woods listening to a song-thrush which has been sent to him as a messenger by Morfudd. In the second half of the poem he compares the singing of the birds in the birch grove to a religious service held in the open air. The editor Dafydd Johnston points out that there is a potentially blasphemous aspect since the chalice which is raised up in the service is filled with desire and love.
Dan y Bargod (Under the Eaves). Dafydd is waiting outside Morfudd's house all night suffering in the rain and cold, hoping she will come to the door. The poem imitates the genre of serenade poems common in medieval European literature.
Gofyn Cymod (Requesting Reconciliation). Dafydd praises Morfudd but complains that she is fickle or inconstant. Even if he made a joke which angered her, she should forgive him, just as Jesus and his mother Mary forgave their enemies. He tells her than living in anger is a sin, and begs her to forgive him.
Galw ar Ddwynwen (A Prayer to Dwynwen). Dafydd prays to Dwynwen, patron saint of lovers, whose shrine was in Llandwyn near Newborough in Anglesey, and begs her to help him with his love for Morfudd. He particularly asks her to restrain Morfudd's husband and to allow Morfudd to meet Dafydd in the woods in May.
Taith i Garu (Journey for Love). Dafydd describes various journeys he has undertaken in all kinds of weather in the past hoping in vain for a glimpse of Morfudd. He mentions a number of places by name, some of which are located in the country around Brogynin, where Dafydd is said to have lived. At the end of the poem he recalls how he once made love to Morfudd in the woods near Gwernytalwrn. (This exact name is no longer found, but the element "Talwrn" occurs in some places near Goginan about three miles south east of Brogynin).
Morfudd yn Hen (Morfudd Grown Old). Inspired by a friar's sermon, Dafydd imagines Morfudd grown old. He ends with a meditation on how quickly life passes.
Another girl who is important in Dafydd's poetry is the aristocratic Dyddgu (Welsh pronunciation: ['dəðgɨ̞]), who is named in 11 poems. Among them are the following:
Dyddgu: The poem starts by praising a nobleman, Ieuan ap Gruffudd, who was recently Dafydd's host; then Dafydd reveals that he has fallen in love with Ieuan's daughter Dyddgu. He retells the tale of the knight Peredur, who was reminded of his dark-haired beloved when he saw a dead blackbird.
Caru Merch Fonheddig (To Dyddgu): Dafydd speaks of the hopelessness of his love for Dyddgu, using various images such as an archer shooting arrows at a difficult target to illustrate that it is just possible that he might one day win her.
Gwahodd Dyddgu (Dyddgu's invitation) Dafydd invites Dyddgu to a tryst in the countryside, describing the heavenly beauty of the birch grove where they will meet.
Dagrau Serch (Love's tears). Dafydd praises Dyddgu's beauty and tells how much he is suffering for her love.
Achau Hiraeth (The Pedigree of Longing): A dialogue poem where personified Hiraeth (Longing) arrives as a messenger sent by Dyddgu to torment the sleepless poet.
Y Iwrch (The Roebuck). Dafydd describes a beautiful roebuck; he advises it how to avoid dogs and arrows, and asks it to carry a letter for him to Dyddgu.
Dyddgu a Morfudd (Dyddgu and Morfudd): Dafydd compares Dyddgu's dark, aristocratic refinement with Morfudd's golden brilliance.
Y Gainc (The Tune). Dafydd sings a new tune to the harp. Alas that Dyddgu, if she is still living, cannot hear it!
Dewis Un o Bedair (Choosing One of Four). The poem is also called Caru'n Ddiffrwyth (Loving in Vain) by some editors, based on the same phrase in line 49. The poem has four sections, each telling of a different woman loved by Dafydd. First is Morfudd: "A girl gave me her love, the star of the region of Nantyseri" (thought to be the present day Cwm Seiri, half a mile from Brogynin). Despite her intense love for Dafydd, it seems she broke off the relationship "for fear of the displeasure of God". – Next is Elen, the wife of Robin Nordd, apparently a cloth merchant of Aberystwyth; she rejected Dafydd's love. – Third is Dyddgu; despite his poems it seems that she too did not accept his love. – Fourthly is a lady whose name and home he keeps anonymous for fear of angering her, but he says he loves her more than any man or woman.
