MA in Celtic Studies

Module Descriptor - Dafydd ap Gwilym

Department: Welsh
Module Code: MAAC0120
Level: postgraduate
No of Credits: 20
Methods of assessment: one essay (of approximately 5,000 words) Teaching Method(s):taught by distance with written teaching materials; tutored individually by e-mail
Pre-requisite(s): none
Co-requisite(s): none
Incompatibles: none
Medium: Taught through the medium of English or Welsh
Contact hours : n/a
Term taught: Flexible enrolment
Lecturers: Owen Thomas

Syllabus:

This module will begin by examining the historical and cultural context of Dafydd ap Gwilym's poetry and make frequent reference to the translations produced by Gwyn Thomas in Dafydd ap Gwilym: His Poems . The module will not attempt to reconstruct a linear and unified narrative of events, leading to a coded enunciation and enactment in the poetry, but will emphasize the fractures, fissures and anomalies, both textually and metrically and in terms of the manuscript tradition, inhering in the poetry of this fourteenth-century Ceredigion bard. The emphasis of the course will therefore, be upon developing a literary and critical appreciation of medieval Welsh poetry.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this module the student will have become familiar with many of Dafydd ap Gwilym's poems and will have gained a greater understanding of the nature of medieval literature in Wales.

The student will also have become familiar with the problems of textual analysis and manuscript transmission in the medieval period.

Transferable and other skills involved:

This module, as with any postgraduate module, will develop critical skills at a postgraduate level: these are chiefly the ability to do independent research, and to form and present critical arguments. During the course of the module students will also be given an opportunity to pore over literary theory.

While this module does not concentrate specifically on internet skills, it presents the opportunity to use, and to assess, internet sources in the pursuit of high-level academic research and writing.

Main recommended texts:

• Parry, Thomas, Gwaith Dafydd ap Gwilym (Cardiff, 1952 and 1979)
• Thomas, Gwyn, Dafydd ap Gwilym: His Poems (Cardiff, 2001)
• Bromwich, Rachel, Dafydd ap Gwilym: A Selection of Poems (Llandysul, 1982; revised edition 1993)
• Johnston, Dafydd, Medieval Welsh Erotic Poetry (Cardiff, 1998)
• Bromwich, Rachel, Tradition and Innovation in the Poetry of Dafydd ap Gwilym (Cardiff, 1967)
• Bromwich, Rachel, Aspects of the Poetry of Dafydd ap Gwilym (Cardiff, 1986)
• Fulton, Helen, Dafydd ap Gwilym and the European Context (Cardiff, 1989)
• Edwards, Huw Meirion, Dafydd ap Gwilym: Influences and Analogues (Oxford, 1996)
• Huws, Daniel, Medieval Welsh Manuscripts (Cardiff, 2000)
• Fulton, Helen, Dafydd ap Gwilym: Apocrypha (Llandysul, 1996)
• Daniel, I., Haycock, M., Johnston D. (eds.), Cyfoeth y Testun (Cardiff, 2003)

Evaluation (including student evaluation):

Module evaluation questionnaires are distributed to students towards the end of the course. The curriculum is also discussed at termly meetings of the Staff-Student Consultative Committee and e-learning students are invited to submit comments to the Director of E-learning via e-mail prior to the meetings. The course is also subject to annual reports by the External Examiner and periodic review by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.