Cylchgronau Cymru

SHORT NOTICES Tradition and Innovation in the Poetry of Dafydd ap Gwilym (University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1967; pp. 51; n.p.) is a new edition of Rachel Bromwich's magisterial lecture delivered before the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, and originally published in the Transactions of that society in 1964. The opportunity has been taken to bring the biblio- graphical references up to date. Mrs. Bromwich demonstrates with immense clarity the fusion in Dafydd's poetry of literary influences from abroad (particularly of French and Anglo-Norman poetry) with themes imbibed from the sub-literary tradition of popular poetry in Wales, what W. J. Gruffydd once termed 'the vital impetus in the ancient literatures of the Celtic peoples'. The decision by the University Press to publish this new version of Mrs. Bromwich's authoritative analysis is warmly to be welcomed. A new venture that will be of interest to students of Welsh history is a series of long-playing gramophone records on 'Wales and her History', published by Wren Records for Llyfrau Dryw, Llandebie, under the general editorship of Dr. Prys Morgan and Mr. D. Viriamu Rhydderch. These records consist of lectures by professional historians, designed to bring the fruits of recent historical research before the wider public. By the beginning of 1968, four of these records were available: (I) Professor Glanmor Williams, 'Wales and the Word' and Professor Alun Davies, 'The Patagonian Venture'; (II) Professor Edward Nevin, 'Robert Owen' and Prys Morgan, 'The Eighteenth-Century Renaissance'; (III) Kenneth O. Morgan, 'Keir Hardie-Pioneer of Welsh Socialism' and Peter Stead, 'The New Men-the Rise of Labour'; and (IV) leuan Gwynedd Jones, '1868-the Cracking of the Ice' and Kenneth O. Morgan, 'David Lloyd George-Welshman and World Statesman'. The editors state that they visualize a library of records for the use of school sixth forms, colleges and universities, and the interested layman.