The Burning Tree: Poems from the First Thousand Years of Welsh Verse

by Gwyn Williams

A selection of Welsh verse, from its beginnings around 600 A.D. up into the 17th century. Nearly 50 poems, both in the original Welsh and in English translation, are included.

Hardcover

First published April 27, 1979

About the author

Professor David Gwyn Williams, usually known simply as Gwyn Williams was a Welsh poet, novelist, translator and academic.

He was educated at the University College of Wales and Jesus College, Oxford. As an academic he taught at Cairo, Alexandria where he first became Professor of English Literature, Benghazi, and Istanbul. While in Egypt he befriended a number of expat writers including Lawrence Durrell. In Egypt he began to work on translations of Welsh poetry into English, pioneering works which were published during the 1950s. On his retirement in 1969 he returned to Wales and concentrated on writing, producing a series of novels, four travel books (including one in Welsh), and numerous other works. A fluent Welsh-speaker, he was a committed member of Plaid Cymru.

Reviews

[Tobi ﾄﾋﾞ · Rating 4 out of 5]

so trad welsh poetry was just poems about war and colonialism and death and misery 😐 ok