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SECOND-MILLENNIUM CELTIC BARDS DAFYDD AP GWILYM - 14th century DAFYDD AP GWILYM pronounced DAV uth ap GWIH lum 'Little is known of Dafydd ap Gwilym apart from what he himself has chosen to reveal in his polished and sophisticated verse, and this slender information is ambiguous in the extreme. It can be supplemented only by a few allusions made to Dafydd by contemporary and near-contemporary poets: there is also a well-authenticated genealogy which gives the name of the poet's father as Gwilym Gam ap Gwilym, and traces his descent ultimately to a certain Gwynfardd Dyfed, who was the semi-legendary progenitor of a number of familieis in south-west Wales. Such as descent accords well with the description of Dafydd by his fellow-poet Madog Benfras as eos Dyfed, "the nightingale of Dyfed".' - Dr. Rachel Bromwich, Dafydd ap Gwilym: a Selection of Poems (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1982) |
