[Welsh, apple trees]

A long series of vaticinatory stanzas ascribed to Myrddin found in the Black Book of Carmarthen (c.1250). Each stanza begins with the formulaic phrase ‘Afallen beren…’ [Sweet apple tree…] and usually runs from six to twelve rhyming lines. Myrddin speaks in the first person and tells of his flight from the battle of Arfderydd (AD 573), his grief for his fallen lord, Gwenddolau, and his mostly gloomy prophecies for the future of the Welsh people against their enemies.

Bibliography

• A. O. H. Jarman, “‘The Welsh Myrddin Poems’”, in R. S. Loomis (ed.), Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages (Oxford, 1959), 20–30
• A. O. H. Jarman, Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin (Cardiff, 1982), pp. xxxv ff