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DAFYDD AP GWILYM (fl. 14th century)
Dafydd ap Gwilym is generally recognized as Wales’s
greatest medieval poet. The handful of datable refer-
ences in Dafydd’s work all refer to events in or close to
the 1340s, so it is likely that he fl ourished then. It is
uncertain when he died, though many believe he died
of the plague around 1350. He may have been the son
of Gwilym Gam and was possibly descended from
minor gentry in mid-Wales. His home is usually named
as Brogynin, near the modern village of Penrhyn-Coch.
He also had links to Dyfed in southwest Wales, and his
uncle, Llywelyn ap Gwilym, was the steward in the
castle at Newcastle Emlyn. Dafydd wrote a heartfelt
ELEGY following Llywelyn’s murder, in which he names
his uncle his “tutor.” There is no evidence that Llywe-
lyn ap Gwilym was a poet himself, but his court was
likely to have been a cosmopolitan place and probably
had an infl uence on Dafydd. Dafydd’s main patron was
Ifor Hael, a wealthy landowner for whom he composed
several poems. Most of Dafydd’s corpus, however,
comprises love poetry, nature poetry, or some combi-
nation thereof.
More than 400 poems are attributed to Dafydd ap
Gwilym in various manuscripts, but it is uncertain how
many of these he actually composed, as his popularity
meant that poems written by others would be attrib-
uted to him in order to achieve greater circulation.
Modern scholarship suggests that 154 of these poems
are his work, while 177 are considered apocrypha.
Dafydd’s popularity stems from the fact that as well as

being an accomplished poet in the strict Welsh meters,

there is a complexity in his vision, and his personality

is central to his work. He wrote mainly in the CYWYDD

form, making it widely recognizable and popular.

Dafydd is often described as a love poet. He also

wrote poems on nature and intertwined the two

themes: He is at his best describing love trysts in the

glade or sending a bird as a messenger to his love. This

was a new development in the traditional Welsh poetic

tradition, and Dafydd may have been infl uenced by

newer themes found on the continent; indeed, his

poetry is often compared to that of the troubadours in

Aquitaine. He also refers to OVID as a poet of love. It is

uncertain, however, how he was infl uenced by these

poets, as there is no evidence that Dafydd ap Gwilym

visited the Continent—or even England.

As a poet of nature, Dafydd appeared to be particu-

larly interested in birds. He often personalized them,

and in several poems he chose them as love messen-

gers. For instance, in “The Gull” (“Yr Wylan”), Dafydd

uses a guessing-game technique at the start of the poem

to describe the gull; in fact, the bulk of the poem is

descriptive, and the message itself is a brief after-

thought. Dafydd’s contribution to the genre was to put

the love messenger before the message, or even before

the girl. His love poetry was often directed toward his

various girlfriends. He had two main loves in Ceredi-

gion (today’s Cardiganshire): Morfudd, who was mar-

ried and often diffi cult to pin down, and Dyddgu, a

noblewoman whom he appeared to worship from a

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