Dafydd ap Gwilym, Wales’s greatest poet, explored love, desire and the natural world with startling frankness and virtuoso wit. In a sequence freely adapted from Dafydd’s work, Matthew Francis brings him to life for the modern English-speaking reader: as he waits in the woods for his lover, ogles the girls in church or causes chaos during a midnight assignation. Plants, birds and animals are fondly invoked while weather and the elements – wind, waves, fog and ice – play their part. Passionate in his treatment of sexual themes, Dafydd is equally ready to make fun of his own susceptibility. These delightful poems remain, across the centuries, intimate, urgent and timeless.
‘One of our most skilled, intriguing and consistently ambitious poets.’ Sarah Crown, Guardian
‘The Mabinogi in Matthew Francis’s poetic retelling . . . blazes with fresh and exciting strangeness.’ Marina Warner, Times Literary Supplement Books of the Year
