External Influences and Analogues: I

Abstract Attention to the poetry of Continental Europe in the preceding chapters has for the most part been confined to comparisons with ele ments in the cywyddau, such as the ‘bird-messenger’ motif and the serenade-type poems, which have been considered as analogous but essentially native developments, drawing on a rich vein of popular tradition. It has been seen also that some signs of external influence may be perceived in the work of poets who flourished a generation or so before the time of the early Cywyddwyr, and in the work of Gruffudd ap Dafydd in particular. The aim of this and the final chapter is to examine the significance of the Cywyddwyr’s debt to this wider European lyric tradition, not only in terms of their general response to the pervasive influence of the courtly love movement, but more especially by drawing attention to a number of themes, motifs, images, and poetic genres which may be related to a literary culture quite different from that of medieval Wales. To what extent did these external borrowings expand the repertoire of the Welsh poets and enrich the fabric of their lyrics? Some of the analogues identified may appear somewhat trivial when examined in isolation, but seen in the wider context of a considerable body of cumulative evidence even the most minor parallels acquire a more powerful suggestive ness.