The Book of Taliesin: Poems of Warfare and Praise in an Enchanted Britain

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Gwion assumes the shape of a fish and jumps into a river; his mother becomes an otter. Gwion turns into a bird; she becomes a hawk and continues her chase. Finally Gwion becomes a single grain of corn. Ceridwen, assuming the form of a hen, eats him. The Book of Taliesin, in Welsh, with English translations by W.F. Skene (1858) (note: Skene's text and translation are not reliable by the standards of modern scholarship) And so the battle between the gods (Tuatha De Danann) and titans (Fomoraig) is waged in part by animating the trees and stones. Here, we have another battle; but who is it between? In a later short text, also called "The Battle of the Trees," the battle is between Arawn and Bran on the side of the underworld, and Amaethon and Gwydion on this side. The battle here is over a white deer and a dog, both animals which appear in the beginning of the Mabinogi as the animals of Arawn, wrongly pursued by Pwyll. In "The Battle of the Trees," Amaethon steals the animals from "Hell," which is ruled by Arawn. Amaethon is able to prevail when his brother Gwydion guesses the name of one of the fighters, Bran, by the fact that he has alder sprigs on his shield. Now, Bran's nephew (son of his sister Branwen) was named Gwern, meaning "alder," and it is the sister's son who is often the heir or chief defender of the kingdom.

Many of the poems have been dated to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and are likely to be the work of poets adopting the Taliesin persona for the purposes of writing about awen (poetic inspiration), characterised by material such as: Welsh has always been a language learning, and this text proves that the kinds of learning expressed and explored through the language have always included science – at least from the Old Welsh period. The introduction to Gwyneth Lewis and Rowan Williams's translation of The Book of Taliesin suggests that later Welsh writers came to see Taliesin as a sort of shamanic figure. The poetry ascribed to him in this collection shows how he can not only channel other entities himself (such as the Awen) in these poems, but that the authors of these poems can in turn channel Taliesin as they both create and perform the poems that they ascribe to Taliesin's persona. This creates a collectivist, rather than individualistic, sense of identity; no human is simply one human, humans are part of nature (rather than opposed to it), and all things in the cosmos can ultimately be seen to be connected through the creative spirit of the Awen. Ceridwen gave birth to Taliesin through magical means, and as such was considered to be the bard’s mother. His first patron, Elfin, lord of Ceredigion, served as his foster-father thereafter.Robinson, Simon (2000). Shades of Deep Purple Remastered (CD Booklet). Deep Purple. London, UK: EMI 7243 4 98336 23. p.10. A translation can never contain the elegance and force of an original, but in this case the translators did very well. The language was simple yet forceful and moving. Regarding the poetry itself, I loved the questions it asked, often asking them without an answer. It was a good mental exercise.

There was an established tradition of writing in Welsh, even though most products of that early Welsh literacy have not survived. The poem then breaks into a first-person account of the birth of the flower-maiden Blodeuwedd, and then the history of another one, a great warrior, once a herdsman, now a learned traveller, perhaps Arthur or Taliesin himself. After repeating an earlier reference to the Flood, the Crucifixion and the day of judgment, the poem closes with an obscure reference to metalwork. This theme reminds me of the transmigration seen in Irish mythology, in the story “The Wooing of Etain”, in which Etain is turned into water, then a fly, and is then blown around and thrown around for eons and undergoing a multitude of troubles until landing in a cup and being drunk down and reborn a thousand years later. I recall similar sequences of transformation and movement in a few other old Irish myths. Williams, Ifor. 1960. Canu Taliesin. Translated into English by J. E. Caerwyn Williams as The Poems of Taliesin Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies: Dublin. (first edition 1967, reprinted 1975, 1987) As he rides home with the boy on his horse, the child begins first to speak, then to recite poetry. The poem he recites tells Elffin that Taliesin has been sent to guide him, that he's not only a great poet but also a prophet, and that by using his gifts all Elffin's enemies will be defeated.And ye, O Be-cuile and O Dianann," said Lugh to his two witches," what power can ye wield in the battle?" Taliesin's authorship of several odes to King Urien Rheged (died c. 590) is commonly accepted, [6] [7] and they mention The Eden Valley and an enemy leader, Fflamddwyn, [8] identified as Ida [9] or his son Theodric. [10] The poems refer to victories of Urien at the battles of Argoed Llwyfain, The Ford of Clyde and Gwen Ystrad. Taliesin also sang in praise of Cynan Garwyn, king of Powys. [11] Cynan's predecessor, Brochwel Ysgithrog, is also mentioned in later poems.