Canllawiau

Language

When you use the website for the first time you will be asked to select a language. If you later wish to change your language choice, you can do so by clicking the language option at the top right of the page.

The Poems

Selecting 'The Poems' on the home page will take you to poem one.

You can select another poem by:

• the number and title of the poem in the 'Choose poem title' menu at the top of the page
• the first line of the poem in the 'Choose first line' menu at the top of the page.

You can also find a poem by searching for any word or word combination using the general 'search' box. (See below for further search options.)

Another way of selecting a poem is to choose the name of a patron, petitioner or poet in the list of 'Patrons and Poets'.

The Left-hand Panel

Text

After choosing a poem, the text will remain in the left-hand panel.

Personal and place names in the text will be underlined by choosing 'Show Options'at the top of the page, then selecting 'Show/hide name links'

By clicking on an underlined name, a pop-up window will open with a definition and listing any further references in the poems. (Where an explanatory note is provided, this is indicated by an 'n' following the poem and line reference, e.g. 13.14n.)

By choosing 'Show/hide line links', underlined line numbers will appear to the left of the text, and by clicking on a line number the right-hand panel will show the variant readings for that line in the major manuscripts.

The Right-hand Panel

Use the tabs at the top of this panel to select the items listed below. You can use the 'lock/unlock scrolling' option to enable or disable synchronized scrolling of the right-hand and left-hand panels.

Aralleiriad

Modern Welsh paraphrase.

Translation

English translation.

Notes

There are three sets of notes, two in Welsh (Esboniadol and Testunol), and English notes. The English notes include an introductory note providing information about the background (historical context, the circumstances in which the poem was performed and so on); the date of the poem (or a rough estimate); a summary of the information about the manuscripts, noting the principal sources used for the edition; a list of any previous editions or translations; a short note on metre and cynghanedd. This is followed by detailed notes on words, word combinations, unusual syntax or metrical features or important textual notes: any information which will help the reader to understand and appreciate the poem. (A fuller discussion on the manuscripts and textual readings is given in Welsh under Testunol notes.) A bibliography is provided at the end of the notes.

Manuscripts

By selecting Manuscripts the following tabs will appear:

Sources

All the manuscripts containing the chosen poem are listed. The page/folio range is given and, if known, the name of the scribe and the date when the poem was copied. This information has been taken from Daniel Huws's forthcoming volume, Repertory of Welsh Manuscripts (RepWM), and we thank him for sharing his work with us.

Transcriptions

For transcription conventions, see under Resources.

Transcriptions are given for the manuscript texts that form the basis of the edited text of the poem. The line numbers in the transcriptions correspond to those in the edited text: lines do not necessarily follow the same order. The line order is noted at the end of the transcription, and attention is drawn to any unusual features in the manuscript (e.g. marginalia, ways of denoting corrections or variants, &c.) and problems encountered in interpreting the handwriting.

Images

Images are presented of some of the manuscript texts which are transcribed: if a small image is provided in the transcriptions, you can click on it and a new window will open. The image can be resized and moved to the left of the screen so that the poem can be read in the manuscript and the transcription side by side.

Stemma

The stemma is an image mapping the supposed relationships between the manuscript texts. It is offered tentatively, as it is often impossible to be completely sure about how the texts relate to one another, especially as some derive from lost written sources or from sources transmitted orally.

By clicking on the 'stemma' tab, the stemma will appear in the right-hand panel. To enlarge it, click on the 'pop-up stemma' link, and a new window will open which you can resize and move around the screen. You can also open the stemma (in a new browser window) by clicking on the thumbnail given in the Testunol or English notes.

X is used to denote a source which has been lost; solid lines show that the relationship between two manuscripts is close, and that one is likely to be a copy of the other; and a dotted line shows that two manuscripts seem to be related, but sources may have been lost between them. Bold boxes denote the key manuscripts (namely the ones discussed in the notes), and the manuscripts which form the basis of the edited text are chosen from these.

At the bottom, a list is given of the manuscripts which could not be included in the stemma: because the text was too short, too recent or too corrupt.

Drawers

At the extreme left, there are tabs which open 'drawers' with the resources noted below. By clicking on a tab, it will turn green and a drawer opens across the screen. To close the drawer, click again on the tab.

Patrons and Poets

This drawer provides further information about the subject of the relevant poem (the patron, the petitioner in a request poem, another poet, and so on). A bibliography is given at the end. You can find information about other patrons and poets by clicking on the 'Patrons and Poets' link at the top of the page. The same information can be accessed by clicking on relevant links in the notes.

Abbreviations

This drawer provides a list of the abbreviations used in the notes.

Search

The main search box is located at the top of the screen. You can search for a single word or a combination of words, either generally across the whole site or limiting your search to specific fields, such as the text of the poems. You can choose to ignore accents, and can make your search case-sensitive. You can also choose to use regular expressions.

Audio

You can hear a reading of the poem by using the player that appears when you choose 'Show Options''Show Options' at the top of the page.

Resources

Use this link to view further resources relating to Guto'r Glyn and his world, including a biography of the poet.

Guto's Wales

This tab will take you to the associated Guto's Wales website, which provides information about life in fifteenth-century Wales.