{"id":189,"date":"2024-04-24T07:53:44","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T07:53:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gwynethlewis.com\/site\/?page_id=189"},"modified":"2025-04-28T11:31:37","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T11:31:37","slug":"the-book-of-taliesin","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/gwynethlewis.com\/site\/the-book-of-taliesin\/","title":{"rendered":"The Book Of Taliesin"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Gwyneth<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The great work of Welsh literature, translated in full for the first time in over 100 years by two of its country\u2019s foremost poets.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tennyson portrayed him, and wrote at least one poem under his name. Robert Graves was fascinated by what he saw as his work\u2019s connection to a lost world of deeply buried folkloric memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is a shapeshifter; a seer; a chronicler of battles fought, by sword and with magic, between the ancient kingdoms of the British Isles; a bridge between old Welsh mythologies and the new Christian theology; a 6th-century Brythonic bard; and a legendary collective project spanning the centuries up to The Book of Taliesin\u2019s<\/em> compilation in 14th-century North Wales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is, above all, no single \u2018he\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The figure of Taliesin is a mystery. But of the variety and quality of the poems written under his sign, of their power as exemplars of the force of ecstatic poetic imagination, and of the fascinating window they offer us onto a strange and visionary world, there can be no question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first volume to gather all of the poems from The Book of Taliesin<\/em> since 1915, Gwyneth Lewis and Rowan Williams\u2019s accessible translation makes these outrageous, arrogant, stumbling and joyful poems available to a new generation of readers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018As befits such experienced poet-translators, the results are vivid and contemporary\u2026 This is an evocative, provocative resource.\u2019<\/p>\nFiona Sampson, Guardian Review<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018As one would expect from two such distinguished poets, they have produced versions that succeed as poetry, and have allowed Taliesin yet another metamorphosis\u2019.<\/p>\nMatthew Francis, Times Literary Supplement<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018Rowan Williams and Gwyneth Lewis have produced a scintillating version of the strange and riddling works of the ancient masterpiece\u2026 It\u2019s a great contribution to the culture of Wales, a fascinating read, and surely will prove to be the seedbed of many novels and poems of the future’.<\/p>\nCatherine Fisher\u2019s <\/em>Book of the Decade, Wales Arts Review<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The great work of Welsh literature, translated in full for the first time in over 100 years by two of its country\u2019s foremost poets. Tennyson portrayed him, and wrote at least one poem under his name. Robert Graves was fascinated by what he saw as his work\u2019s connection to a lost world of deeply buried… Read More »The Book Of Taliesin<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-189","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Book Of Taliesin - Gwyneth Lewis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The great work of Welsh literature, translated in full for the first time in over 100 years by two of its country\u2019s foremost poets.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gwynethlewis.com\/site\/the-book-of-taliesin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Book Of Taliesin - 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