Gift to the noble ladies of Christendom

July 23, 2007 6:57 PM

The poems of Dafydd ap Gwilym A project at Swansea University puts the works of one of mediaeval (14th century) Europe's literary giants on line in full, including a full concordance, digitalised manuscripts, English translations and recorded readings. Dafydd was a great poet of love, lust and nature and a master of strict form. His work was also hilariously funny.
posted by Abiezer (11 comments total)

The translations aim at accuracy rather than poetry, but you get a flavour of the man. If you want rather more than a flavour, don't miss his poem in praise of the penis. But he's so much more than just a saucy jokester.
posted by Abiezer at 7:00 PM on July 23, 2007

MetaFilter: a trouserful of wantonness.
posted by rouftop at 7:28 PM on July 23, 2007

poem in praise of the penis

Well, he was the only gay in the village. Thanks, Abiezer!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 7:52 PM on July 23, 2007

Well, he was the only gay in the village.

But(t), of course -- when I saw the name 'Dafydd' I, too, first thought of Dafydd Thomas -- and of him alone!

'The Only Gay in the Village' -- 1, 2, 3.
posted by ericb at 8:06 PM on July 23, 2007

mediaeval
The modern spelling is just "medieval", even in England.
posted by stbalbach at 8:57 PM on July 23, 2007

That dick poem (I mean praise of the penis) makes my personal favorites of all time.
posted by Cedric at 9:08 PM on July 23, 2007

stbalbach: can you guess the modern spelling of pysse offe? :p
posted by Abiezer at 9:29 PM on July 23, 2007 [1 favorite]

I read the funny one out loud to myself and it IS really funny. He has fantastic timing, the falling down made me laugh.
posted by MNDZ at 10:38 PM on July 23, 2007

Many thanks for these links Abiezer; I’ve been hoping to find more English translations of Dafydd's poems since first reading The Rattle Bag in the anthology to which it lent its name.
posted by misteraitch at 12:48 AM on July 24, 2007

This is great fun.
posted by joannemerriam at 3:18 PM on July 24, 2007

Abiezer, I was really addressing it to those who give a shit not you personally.
posted by stbalbach at 7:08 AM on August 15, 2007