Introduction

This short poem contains only a brief selection of traditions relating to St David. The focus is on Ceredigion, and Llanddewibrefi in particular, and it may be that the poem was commissioned by a patron from that region. Most of the content derives ultimately from the Welsh or Latin Lives (see Introduction to BDewi), but reference is also made to miracles involving stags and birds which are mentioned by other poets but are not in the prose lives.

Date
This poem cannot be dated any more precisely than the period of Lewys Glyn Cothi’s activity, that is c.1447 × c.1489.

Previous edition
GLGC poem 8.

Metre and cynghanedd
Awdl-gywydd, 32 lines. The awdl-gywydd was a relatively rare metre (see CD 327–8), and since it was monorhyme, poems using it tended to be shorter than the cywydd deuair hirion. The end-rhyme of this poem is thematic, leading to a climax in the final line with the name Dewi ab Non. Cynghanedd: croes 22% (7 l.), traws 59% (19 l.), sain 12.5% (4 l.), llusg 6% (2 l.).