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64-611: Marged Haycock catalogues various forms of the name in the early texts, and in less detail in her edition of the Taliesin poems. These mainly occur in manuscripts which have been dated to the 13th century, though they may, of course, be using earlier forms or 13th century adaptations of earlier forms. The Black Book of Carmarthen gives ‘ Kyrridven ’. Peniarth 3 gives ‘ Kyrrytuen ’, The Book of Taliesin variously gives ‘ Cerituen ’, ‘ Kerrituen ’ and ‘ Kerritwen ’, while The Red Book of Hergest gives ‘ Kerituen ’. So ‘-fen’

128-509: A Middle Welsh manuscript, the Book of Taliesin . Taliesin was a renowned bard who is believed to have sung at the courts of at least three kings. In 1960, Ifor Williams identified eleven of the medieval poems ascribed to Taliesin as possibly originating as early as the sixth century, and so possibly being composed by a historical Taliesin. The bulk of this work praises King Urien of Rheged and his son Owain mab Urien , although several of

192-530: A "white fairy". Robert Graves later fitted her into his concept of the Threefold Goddess , in which she was interpreted as a form of the destructive side of the goddess. In Wicca , Ceridwen is a goddess of change and rebirth and transformation and her cauldron symbolizes knowledge and inspiration. Awen Awen is a Welsh , Cornish and Breton word for " inspiration " (and typically poetic inspiration). In Welsh mythology , awen

256-668: A circle or a series of circles of varying thickness, often with a dot, or point, atop each line. The British Druid Order attributes the symbol to Iolo Morganwg ; it has been adopted by some Neo-Druids. According to Jan Morris , Iolo Morganwg did in fact create what is now called "The Awen" as a symbol for the Gorsedd of Bards , the secret society of Welsh poets, writers, and musicians that he claimed to have rediscovered, but in fact created himself. Morganwg, whose own beliefs were, according to Marcus Tanner, "a compound of Christianity and Druidism , Philosophy and Mysticism", explained

320-514: A concerto for alto saxophone and orchestra in eight parts after the tale named "The Tale of Taliesin". The concerto was premiered in 2009 by Akademische Orchestervereinigung Göttingen , with the Norwegian saxophonist Ola Asdahl Rokkones as a soloist. The work has since been published at Éditions Billaudot, Paris and played by Mittelsächsische Philharmonie, The Saint-Petersburg Northern Synfonia Orchestra and Nizhny Novgorod Philharmonic Orchestra,

384-458: A crooked back’, fitting the stereotype of a witch. Marged Haycock accepts ‘ ben ’ but questions the first syllable as ‘cyr’, suggesting other possible alternatives which could relate to ‘ crynu ’ (shake or shiver), or ‘ craid ’ (passionate, fierce, powerful), but also notes her daughter Creirwy, with the first syllable a form of ‘ credu ’ (belief) and so, by analogy, her mother’s name as Credidfen would mean ‘woman to be believed in’, making

448-456: A great fear & consternation: butt possessed with such a vein, or gift of poetrie, that he left the sheep & went about the Countrey, making songs upon all occasions, and came to be the most famous Bard in all the Countrey in his time. In some forms of modern Druidism , the term is symbolized by an emblem showing three straight lines that spread apart as they move downward, drawn within

512-425: A hare. She became a greyhound. He became a fish and jumped into a river. She transformed into an otter. He turned into a bird; she became a hawk. Finally, he turned into a single grain of corn. She then became a hen and, being a goddess (or enchantress, depending on the version of the tale), she found and ate him without trouble. But because of the potion he was not destroyed. When Ceridwen became pregnant, she knew it

576-508: A lengthy appearance in Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles and Guy Gavriel Kay 's The Fionavar Tapestry . In Stephen R. Lawhead 's The Pendragon Cycle , he is most notable in the first book, eponymously named Taliesin , in which he is depicted as Merlin's father. In M. K. Hume 's King Arthur trilogy, he's depicted as Merlin's firstborn son. Gillian Bradshaw uses him as a stand-in for Merlin in her Arthurian trilogy. He

640-441: A modern Welsh form of the name. Similarly, the difference between the ‘C’ and the ‘K’ initial consonant is clearly simply a matter of a different spelling convention to represent the hard ‘c’ sound. But the following vowel, ‘y’ or ‘e’ could well represent a shift in actual pronunciation of the vowel sound. Sir Ifor Williams asserted that ‘ Cyrridfen ’ is the most likely original form from ‘ cwrr ’ (bent, angled), so ‘woman with

704-456: A poetic furore & (in truth) as many of them as I have conversed with are (as I may say) gifted or inspired with it. I was told by a very sober, knowing person (now dead) that in his time, there was a young lad fatherless & motherless, soe very poor that he was forced to beg; butt att last was taken up by a rich man, that kept a great stock of sheep upon the mountains not far from the place where I now dwell who cloathed him & sent him into

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768-546: A request for some information about the remnants of Druidry in existence in Wales at that time, saying … the antient Bards … communicated nothing of their knowledge, butt by way of tradition: which I suppose to be the reason that we have no account left nor any sort of remains, or other monuments of their learning of way of living. As to the later Bards, you shall have a most curious Account of them. This vein of poetrie they called Awen, which in their language signifies rapture, or

832-511: A sort of shamanic figure . The poetry ascribed to him in this collection shows how he not only can channel other entities (such as the Awen ) in these poems, but that the authors of these poems can in turn channel Taliesin himself in creating the poems that they ascribe to him. 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

896-539: A youth by Irish pirates while fishing at sea, he is said to have escaped by using a wooden buckler for a boat; he landed at the fishing weir of Elffin, one of the sons of Urien (all medieval Welsh sources, however, make Elffin the son of Gwyddno Garanhir). Urien made him Elffin's instructor, and gave Taliesin an estate. But once introduced to the court of the warrior-chief Taliesin became his foremost bard, followed him in his wars, and wrote of his victories. Modern Welsh poet John Davies of Denbighshire (1841–1894) took

960-648: Is also a central character in Moonheart , an urban fantasy novel by Charles de Lint , and appears as the chief bard of the Kingdom of Prydain in the children's novels of Lloyd Alexander which are based on the Welsh Mabinogion . The historical novel Radiant Brow – The Epic of Taliesin by H. Catherine Watling is based on "The Tale of Taliesin" and the poetry contained in The Book of Taliesin . In

1024-618: Is also mentioned by Aneirin , another of the five mentioned poets, who is famed as the author of Y Gododdin , a series of elegies to the men of the kingdom of Gododdin (now Lothian ) who died fighting the Angles at the Battle of Catraeth around 600. Taliesin's authorship of several odes to King Urien Rheged (died c. 550) is commonly accepted, and they mention The Eden Valley and an enemy leader, Fflamddwyn, identified as Ida or his son Theodric . The poems refer to victories of Urien at

1088-564: Is mentioned as one of the five British poets of renown, along with Talhaearn Tad Awen ("Talhaearn Father of the Muse"), Aneirin , Blwchfardd, and Cian Gwenith Gwawd ("Cian Wheat of Song"), in the Historia Brittonum , and is also mentioned in the collection of poems known as Y Gododdin . Taliesin was highly regarded in the mid-12th century as the supposed author of a great number of romantic legends. According to legend Taliesin

1152-407: Is the inspiration of the poets, or bards ; its personification, Awen is the inspirational muse of creative artists in general. The inspired individual (often a poet or a soothsayer ) is an awenydd . In current usage, awen is sometimes ascribed to musicians and poets. Awen also occurs as a female given name . The word appears in the third stanza of " Hen Wlad fy Nhadau " ,

1216-444: Is the most common termination (a mutated form of archaic ‘ ben ’ : ‘woman’). The variant forms ‘fen’, ‘uen’ and ‘ven’ are all due to variant scribal practices in the spelling of the sound in the modern letter ‘v’, as is the letter ‘w’, which was also sometimes used for this sound, causing the final syllable to be confused with ‘ wen ’ as a mutated form of Gwen (fair, blessed) a common ending to Welsh names. So ‘ Ceridwen ’ as

1280-446: Is the only source and dismissed the “lying awen” of bards who thought otherwise as in his dismissive lines A claimant false this awen is found Born of hell’s furnace underground Such a focus on an unmediated source was picked up by the eighteenth century Unitarian Iolo Morgannwg (Edward Williams, 1747-1826) who was able to invent the awen symbol /|\, suggesting that it was an ancient druidic sign of “the ineffable name of God, being

1344-541: The Hanes Taliesin , he was originally known as Gwion Bach ap Gwreang . He was a servant of Cerridwen and was made to stir the Cauldron of Inspiration for one year to allow for Cerridwen to complete her potion of inspiration. The potion was initially intended for her son, Morfran , who although was considered frightfully ugly, she loved nonetheless, and felt that if he would not grow in beauty then he should have

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1408-592: The bardic name of Taliesin Hiraethog. The American architect Frank Lloyd Wright , whose mother, Anna Lloyd Jones, was born in Wales, named his Wisconsin home and studio Taliesin and his home and studio near Scottsdale, Arizona Taliesin West . Susan Kare , the typographer and graphic designer who developed the first set of fonts for the early Macintosh , created a dingbat font called Taliesin that shipped with

1472-682: The national anthem of Wales . Awen derives from the Indo-European root *-uel , meaning 'to blow', and has the same root as the word awel meaning 'breeze' in Welsh and 'wind' or 'gale' in Cornish. The first recorded attestation of the word occurs in Nennius 's Historia Brittonum , a Latin text of c. 796, based in part on earlier writings by the monk, Gildas . It occurs in the phrase 'Tunc talhaern tat aguen in poemate claret' (Talhaern

1536-529: The 16th century). In the mid-16th-century, Elis Gruffydd recorded a legendary account of Taliesin that resembles the story of the boyhood of the Irish hero Fionn mac Cumhail and the salmon of wisdom in some respects. The tale was also recorded in a slightly different version by John Jones of Gellilyfdy (c. 1607). This story agrees in many respects with fragmentary accounts in the Book of Taliesin . According to

1600-474: The 16th century. Details of Taliesin's life are sparse. The first mention of him occurs in the Saxon genealogies appended to four manuscripts of the Historia Brittonum from 828AD. The writer names five poets, among them Taliesin, who lived in the time of Ida of Bernicia (fl. mid-6th century) and a British chieftain, (O)utigirn ( Modern Welsh Eudeyrn). This information is considered fairly credible, since he

1664-553: The Awen symbol as follows, "And God vocalizing His Name said /|\, and with the Word all the world sprang into being, singing in ecstasy of joy /|\ and repeating the name of the Deity." The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD) describe the three lines as rays emanating from three points of light, with those points representing the triple aspect of deity and, also, the points at which

1728-559: The Blessed in this era, by which time he was clearly perceived as a legendary figure who existed in many different times. A manuscript in the hand of 18th-century literary forger Iolo Morganwg claimed he was the son of Saint Henwg of Llanhennock ; but this is contrary to other tradition. In it he is said to have been educated in the school of Catwg, at Llanfeithin, in Glamorgan , which the historian Gildas also attended. Captured as

1792-616: The King . He is a character in Thomas Love Peacock 's satirical romantic 1829 novel The Misfortunes of Elphin where he is discovered as a baby floating in a coracle by Elphin (Elfin) who is fishing. In the 1951 novel Porius , by John Cowper Powys , he is depicted as a politically astute court bard who is accomplished in both cookery and poetry. He also makes an appearance in a number of works of modern commercial fiction that blend history and Arthurian legend, including quite

1856-637: The Latin rather than the Insular observance of Easter. He also suggests that the figure of Taliesin served as a bridge between the worlds of Brittonic Christian Latin literature and the Heroic Age court poets, allowing monastic scribes to cultivate vernacular poetry. In legend and medieval Welsh poetry, he is often referred to as Taliesin Ben Beirdd ("Taliesin, Chief of Bards" or chief of poets). He

1920-548: The Middle Ages the identification of the source of the Awen begins to shift from Ceridwen to more orthodox christian sources such as the Virgin Mary, the saints, or directly from God. A full discussion can be found in Awen y Cynfeirdd a’r Gogynfeirdd by Y Chwaer Bosco. The Bardic Grammars of the later Middle Ages identify ‘The Holy Spirit’ as the proper source of the awen. The 15th century bard Sion Cent argued that God

1984-554: The Princes (such as Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr ) he thus considers later, derivative works. In them, according to Hutton, Ceridwen is transformed from a sorceress into a goddess of poetry. Citing this and a couple of other examples, Hutton proposes that the Gogynfeirdd substantially created a new mythology not reflective of earlier paganism. Nonetheless, references to Ceridwen's cauldron ( pair Ceridwen ) are also to be found in some of

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2048-643: The Summer Stars , Taliesin is the central character, Arthur's bard and Captain of Horse, and the head of a companionship dedicated to Christian Charity in Camelot. He is character in Traci Harding 's Chosen series starting with The Ancient Future Trilogy where he is an immortal time traveler trying to help the human soul mind evolution advance. The Norwegian classical composer Martin Romberg wrote

2112-662: The awen to flow so that ‘inspired song from Ceridwen will shape diverse and well-crafted verse’. This anticipates much poetry from identified bards of the Welsh princes between circa 1100-1300 which juggles the competing claims of the Celtic Church with the source of the awen in the Cauldron of Ceridwen.  So Llywarch ap Llywelyn (1173-1220) – also known as ‘Prydydd y Moch’ – can address his patron Llywelyn ap Iorwerth like this: 'I greet my lord, bring awen’s great greeting Words from Ceridwen I compose Just like Taliesin when he freed Elffin'. The same poet also penned

2176-544: The battles of Argoed Llwyfain, The Ford of Clyde and Gwen Ystrad . Taliesin also sang in praise of Cynan Garwyn , king of Powys . Cynan's predecessor, Brochwel Ysgithrog , is also mentioned in later poems. According to legends that first appear in the Book of Taliesin , Taliesin's early patron was Elffin ap Gwyddno , son of Gwyddno Garanhir , who was a lord of a lost land in Cardigan Bay called Cantre'r Gwaelod . Taliesin defended Elffin and satirised his enemy,

2240-420: The concoction. The first three drops of liquid from this potion gave wisdom; the rest was a fatal poison. Three hot drops spilled onto Gwion's thumb as he stirred, burning him. He instinctively put his thumb in his mouth, and gained the wisdom and knowledge Ceridwen had intended for her son. Realising that Ceridwen would be angry, Gwion fled. Ceridwen chased him. Using the powers of the potion he turned himself into

2304-526: The cosmos can ultimately be seen to be connected through the creative spirit of the Awen. The idea that he was a bard at the court of King Arthur dates back at least to the tale of Culhwch and Olwen , perhaps a product of the 11th century. It is elaborated upon in modern English poetry, such as Tennyson 's Idylls of the King and Charles Williams ' Taliessin Through Logres . But the historical Taliesin's career can be shown to have fallen in

2368-424: The divine, The Book of Taliesin often implies this. A particularly striking example is contained in the lines: ban pan doeth peir ogyrwen awen teir -literally “the three elements of inspiration that came, splendid, out of the cauldron” but implicitly “that came from God” as ‘peir’ (cauldron) can also mean ‘sovereign’ often with the meaning ‘God’. It is the “three elements” that is cleverly worked in here as awen

2432-615: The early mythological poems attributed to the legendary Taliesin in the Book of Taliesin . The Victorian poet Thomas Love Peacock also wrote a poem entitled the Cauldron of Ceridwen . Later writers identified her as having originally been a pagan goddess, speculating on her role in a supposed Celtic pantheon. John Rhys in 1878 referred to the Solar Myth theory of Max Müller according to which "Gwenhwyfar and Ceridwen are dawn goddesses." Charles Isaac Elton in 1882 referred to her as

2496-539: The father of the muse was then renowned in poetry) where the Old Welsh word aguen (awen) occurs in the Latin text describing poets from the sixth century. It is also recorded in its current form in Canu Llywarch Hen (9th or 10th century?) where Llywarch says 'I know by my awen' indicating it as a source of instinctive knowledge. On connections between awen as poetic inspiration and as an infusion from

2560-537: The gift of the Awen to compensate. Upon completion of this potion, three drops sprang out and landed upon Gwion Bach's thumb. Gwion then placed his thumb in his mouth to soothe his burns resulting in Gwion's enlightenment. Out of fear of what Cerridwen would do to him, Gwion fled and eventually transformed into a piece of grain before being consumed by Cerridwen. However, this resulted in Cerridwen becoming impregnated with

2624-546: The last half of the 6th century, while historians who argue for Arthur's existence date his victory at Mons Badonicus in the years on either side of AD 500; the Annales Cambriae offer the date of c. 539 for his death or disappearance in the Battle of Camlann , only a few years earlier than the date of 542 found in the Historia Regum Britanniae . Taliesin also appears as a companion of Bran

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2688-501: The lines 'The Lord God grant me sweet awen As from the Cauldron of Ceridwen' Elidr Sais (c. 1195-1246), ‘singing to Christ’, wrote 'Brilliant my poetry after Myrddin Shining forth from the cauldron of awen' Dafydd Benfras (1220-1258) included both Myrddin (Merlin) and Aneirin in his backward glance: 'Full of awen as Myrddin desired Singing praise as Aneirin before me when he sang of ‘Gododdin’.' Later in

2752-406: The mother’s and daughter’s name stems a pair. The earliest poems emphasise her keeping of the cauldron of awen and so a source of poetic inspiration. Cuhelyn Fardd (1100-1130) spoke of being inspired by her muse, while Cynddelw Prydydd Mawr (1155-1200) acknowledged her as the source of his art and Prydydd y Moch at the beginning of the 13th century specifically mentions the cauldron of Kyridfen as

2816-541: The mountains to keep his sheep. There in Summer time following the sheep & looking to their lambs, he fell into a deep sleep in which he dreamt, that he saw a beautiful young man with a garland of green leafs upon his head, & an hawk upon his fist: with a quiver full of Arrows att his back, coming towards him (whistling several measures or tunes all the way) att last lett the hawk fly att him, which (he dreamt) gott into his mouth & inward parts, & suddenly awaked in

2880-581: The phrase ‘Awen foretells …’, and it is repeated later in the poem. The link between poetic inspiration and divination is implicit in the description of the Awenyddion given by Gerald of Wales in the 12th century and the link between bardic expression and prophecy is a common feature of much early verse in Wales and elsewhere A poem in The Black Book of Carmarthen by an unidentified bard, but addressed to Cuhelyn Fardd (1100-1130) asks God to allow

2944-505: The poems indicate that Taliesin also served as court bard to King Brochfael Ysgithrog of Powys and his successor Cynan Garwyn , either before or during his time at Urien's court. Some of the events to which the poems refer, such as the Battle of Arfderydd ( c.  573 ), are referred to in other sources. John T. Koch argues that the description of Easter in the praise poem Yspeil Taliesin ('The Spoils of Taliesin') indicates that Urien and Taliesin were Christians who adhered to

3008-577: The powerful Maelgwn Gwynedd , shortly before the latter died (probably in 547 CE). The Latin-Breton Life of Iudic-hael refers to Taliesin visiting the monastery of Gildas at Rhuys in Brittany . According to the Welsh Triads , Taliesin had a son, Afaon , who was accounted a great warrior, and who suffered a violent death, probably in Lothian. Taliesin's grave is held in folklore to be near

3072-423: The rays of the rising sun at the equinoxes and solstices, conveying into focus the eye of light”. Giraldus Cambrensis referred to those inspired by the awen as "awenyddion" in his Description of Wales (1194): (Chapter XVI: Concerning the soothsayers of this nation, and persons as it were possessed) In 1694, the Welsh poet Henry Vaughan wrote to his cousin, the antiquary John Aubrey , in response to

3136-480: The reborn infant grew to become the legendary bard Taliesin . It has been suggested that Ceridwen first appeared as a simple sorceress character in the Tale of Taliesin . Its earliest surviving text dates from the mid-16th century, but it appears from its language to be a 9th-century composition, according to Hutton. References to Ceridwen and her cauldron found in the work of the 12th century Gogynfeirdd or Poets of

3200-471: The seed and upon giving birth, she could not bring herself to kill the baby Gwion. She instead cast him into the ocean in a large leather bag, where he was found by Elffin , who named him Taliesin. According to these texts Taliesin was the foster-son of Elffin ap Gwyddno , who gave him the name Taliesin, meaning "radiant brow", and who later became a king in Ceredigion , Wales. The legend states that he

3264-490: The source of the gift of awen . These and other references by identified bards are in addition to the many references by unidentified bards in The Book of Taliesin . This story is first attested in a sixteenth-century manuscript written by Elis Gruffydd who claimed that it was widely known in Wales at that time in both written versions and in oral lore The story tells that Ceridwen's son, Morfran (also called Afagddu ),

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3328-704: The sun rises on the equinoxes and solstices – known as the Triad of the Sunrises. The emblem as used by the OBOD is surrounded by three circles representing the three circles of creation. Various modern Druidic groups and individuals have their own interpretation of the awen. The three lines relate to earth, sea and air; body, mind and spirit; or love, wisdom and truth. It is also said that the awen stands for not simply inspiration, but for inspiration of truth; without awen one cannot proclaim truth. The three foundations of awen are

3392-451: The tradition of a legendary bard whose poems could be re-worked or re-imagined, giving rise to the prose tale in which some of these poems are embedded. Much of the academic work done on these poems focuses on attempting to separate poems by the original bard and later poets imaginatively taking on his mantle. His name was used, spelled as Taliessin, in Alfred, Lord Tennyson 's Idylls of

3456-522: The two latter being conducted by Fabio Mastrangelo. In modern music, Deep Purple 's second studio album was named The Book of Taliesyn in honour of the bard. A track on the album Softs by Canterbury prog-rock band Soft Machine is titled "The Tale of Taliesin". Paul Roland ’s 2006 album Re-Animator contains a song about the bard titled "Taliesin". There is a Dungeon synth band from Germany named Taliesin The Bard. The Song "Spiral Castle" by

3520-590: The understanding of truth, the love of truth, and the maintaining of truth. A version of the awen was approved by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs in early 2017 as an emblem for veteran headstones . Taliesin Taliesin ( / ˌ t æ l ˈ j ɛ s ɪ n / tal- YES -in , Welsh: [talˈjɛsɪn] ; fl. 6th century AD) was an early Brittonic poet of Sub-Roman Britain whose work has possibly survived in

3584-623: The update disk for System 2 in 1985. Taliesin is relatively obscure compared to its more well-known counterpart Cairo, the symbol font that featured Apple 's iconic dogcow logo. It is not clear why the font shares a name with the British poet, having been the only one of the set that does not bear the name of a "world class city" ( Chicago , San Francisco , Toronto , etc.). As it contains several glyphs of buildings , furniture , and other aspects of architecture , landscaping , and interior design , however, it has been theorized that Taliesin

3648-522: The village of Tre Taliesin near Llangynfelyn called Bedd Taliesin , but this is a Bronze Age burial chamber, and the village of Tre-Taliesin , at the foot of the hill, was actually named after the burial chamber in the 19th century though legend was traced by Edward Lhuyd to the 17th century. More detailed traditions of Taliesin's biography arose from about the 11th century, and in Historia Taliesin ("The Tale of Taliesin", surviving from

3712-795: The young adult fiction series The Dark Is Rising Sequence by British author Susan Cooper , he guides young protagonists Will Stanton and Bran Davies through the Lost Land in the final book, Silver on the Tree . Taliesin's harp-tuning key makes an appearance in " A String in the Harp " by Nancy Bond , a time-travel story set in Wales. The key gives Peter Morgan, the main protagonist, the ability to see visions of Taliesin's life. In Charles Williams ' unfinished series of Arthurian poems, found in Taliessin Through Logres and The Region of

3776-411: Was Gwion and resolved to kill the child when he was born. However, when he was born, he was so beautiful that she could not do it. She threw him in the ocean instead, sewing him inside a leather-skin bag (or set him in a coracle , depending on the story). The child did not die, but was rescued on a Welsh shore – near Aberdyfi according to most versions of the tale – by a prince named Elffin ap Gwyddno ;

3840-484: Was adopted as a child by Elffin , the son of Gwyddno Garanhir , and prophesied the death of Maelgwn Gwynedd from the Yellow Plague . In later stories he became a mythic hero, companion of Bran the Blessed and King Arthur . His legendary biography is found in several late renderings (see below), the earliest surviving narrative being found in a manuscript chronicle of world history written by Elis Gruffydd in

3904-453: Was also named in homage to Frank Lloyd Wright's aforementioned studio and estate of same name. As early as the 12th century bards of the Welsh princes adopted the persona of Taliesin to make prophetic and legendary claims for the source of their inspiration or awen as well as those poems which can be attributed directly to them. So some of the poems in the Book of Taliesin have been attributed to bards who saw themselves as working within

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3968-410: Was hideously ugly – particularly compared with his beautiful sister Creirwy – so Ceridwen sought to make him wise in compensation. She made a potion in her magical cauldron to grant the gift of wisdom and poetic inspiration, also called Awen . The mixture had to be boiled for a year and a day. She set Morda, a blind man, to tend the fire beneath the cauldron, while Gwion Bach , a young boy, stirred

4032-616: Was sometimes characterised as consisting of three sub-divisions (‘ogyrwen’) so “the ogyrwen of triune inspiration”, perhaps suggesting the Trinity. There are fifteen occurrences of the word awen in The Book of Taliesin as well as several equivalent words or phrases, such as ogyrven which is used both as a division of the awen (‘Seven score ogyrven which are in awen, shaped in Annwfn’) as well as an alternative word for awen itself. The poem Armes Prydain (The Prophecies of Britain) begins with

4096-540: Was then raised at his court in Aberdyfi and that at the age of 13, he visited King Maelgwn Gwynedd , Elffin's uncle, and correctly prophesied the manner and imminence of Maelgwn's death. A number of medieval poems attributed to Taliesin allude to the legend but these postdate the historical poet's floruit considerably. 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

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