The Cuckold and the Cuckoo : 無料・フリー素材/写真
The Cuckold and the Cuckoo / Giles Watson's poetry and prose
| ライセンス | クリエイティブ・コモンズ 表示-継承 2.1 |
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| 説明 | The Cuckold and the CuckooEiddig a’r GogI love her as men should do,Echoing the song: “Cuckoo,”Languish under leaves and bloomsWith kindred of the cuckoo.She has a husband. Like glueHe smears her – hates the cuckoo.He’d spear the bird, run it through –Deceit would kill the cuckoo –Uproot birches, as churls do,Ruin the choirs of the cuckoo.The clod claims there is not roomFor husband and for cuckoo.Watch: he reaches up to pruneThe twigs that guard the cuckoo;Every branch breaks at his crudeAxe, to expose the cuckoo.She’s there, among trees and dewCavorting with the cuckoo.In summer, against taboo,I brave the rain: bold cuckoo:Make a raid on his droopingHead. Willow hat and cuckooPlumes: he’ll wear them both, and rueHis pursuit of jays, cuckoos,And birds of a cryptic hue.Hide, girl, beside your cuckoo.Poem attributed to Dafydd ap Gwilym, paraphrased by Giles Watson. In English, there is a direct linguistic connection between the words “cuckold” and “cuckoo”. In Welsh, the words are “cwcwallt” and “gog (cog)”, so the connection is not so explicit – but Dafydd seems to have been aware of it. The degree to which he was aware that cuckoos parasitize other birds by laying eggs in their nests is open to conjecture. It is interesting that he chooses to characterise Eiddig as an over-zealous gamekeeper, over-pruning his trees and persecuting the wild birds. The poem also provides evidence that Dafydd was aware of the English tradition which regards a willow hat as a symbol of rejection in love: the source of the famous folk-song ‘All Around My Hat’. Thomas Parry excludes this poem from the Dafydd ap Gwilym canon because it does not “match his style”, and yet there are other poems with a single end-rhyme which he does accept. All of the mediaeval manuscripts attribute it to Dafydd.The picture is adapted from F.O. Morris's nineteenth century illustration of a cuckoo in British Birds. |
| 撮影日 | 2012-09-29 21:09:21 |
| 撮影者 | Giles Watson's poetry and prose , Oxfordshire, England |
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