Welsh Poems and Ballads

These are voices from the medieval Welsh bardic tradition, preserved through centuries and gathered here in one shimmering collection. Iolo Goch, court poet to the legendary Owain Glendower, dominates the volume with verses that burn with fierce national pride and aching personal loss. The poems move through misty valleys and mountaintops, through comets streaking across medieval skies, through love letters to unnamed women and elegies for fallen princes. An introduction by Ernest Rhys connects these ancient bards to George Borrow's famous passion for Wales, creating a bridge between the fourteenth century and the early 1900s. This is not polished Victorian sentimentality but something rawer and stranger: a window into how Welsh poets once saw their world, their mountains, their rebellious prince. For anyone seeking the authentic voice of Wales, uncensored by centuries of English literary dominance, these are essential songs.