Elegy for Owain son of Urien
The following poem from The Book of Taliesin celebrates Owain, a figure who appears in later Arthurian tales as Yvain. Owain was a sixth-century lord of Theged in northern Britain, and thus may have been a contemporary of the "real" Arthur.
| The soul of Owain son of Urien, may the Lord consider its need. The lord of Rheged whom the heavy greensward covers, it was not shallow to praise him. The grave of a man renowned in song, of great fame. His whetted spears were like the dawn’s rays, since no equal is found to the resplendent lord of Llwyfenydd, reaper of enemies, captor, with the nature of his father and his forebears. When Owain killed Fflamddywwn, it was no harder than sleeping. The broad host of Lloegr sleep with the light in their eyes. And those who did not retreat were bolder than necessary. Owain punished them severely, like a pack of wolves attacking sheep. A worthy man above his many colored arms, who gave horses to suitors; though he hoarded them as a miser, they were shared for the sake of his soul. The soul of Owain son of Urien, may the Lord consider its need. |