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For study, practice and preservation of the traditional bardic arts of poetry, storytelling, legend and literature. |
Who's who among the Bards?
(1 threads, 65 posts)
 Taliesin
Historical Thread
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Who was Taliesin? Separating fact from myth.
When the subject of Celtic poetry comes up, often the first name mentioned is Taliesin. There is a vast body of writing attributed to him, but what do we really know about his life and what he actually wrote? The legendary figure of Taliesin is all tangled up with Welsh myths, especially the story of Gwionn. Was he really descended from the goddess Cerridwen? Or were these stories merely symbolic of the poet's extraordinary gifts?
We do know that there was a poet named Taliesin Pen Beirdd (Primary Chief Bard of Britain) who lived in Wales during the last half of the sixth century. He was apparently an outstanding poet whose works can still be read today, although in fragmented and often muddled forms. These poems and stories remained obscure for hundreds of years until the Celtic Revival of the 18th century. Suddenly it became important to translate Taliesin from medieval Welsh into English. Well-intentioned scholars, however, lacked skill in medieval Welsh and were blissfully ignorant of the historical era from which these writings came. The result is that the poetry attributed to Taliesin is confusing, cryptic, contradictory, and sometimes not his work at all.
As with many other poets of his time, Taliesin's writings included a large body of traditional lore that was from a much older source. The customary purpose of the bard was to repeat ancient tales, enhancing them with the skills of any good storyteller - and this was part of Taliesin's role as Chief Bard. He was also expected to expound upon his own life in symbolic or legendary terms, as any great bard did in those times. His words certainly were never meant to be taken literally.
Almost everything we know for certain about Taliesin comes from two sources: a sixteenth-century text, "Hanes Taliesin"; and a fourteenth-century collection of 77 poems known as "The Book of Taliesin" which is one of the Four Ancient Books of Wales.
These two sources are a heady mixture of mythology and history, not uncommon in early Celtic literature. The central theme of "Hanes Taliesin" is rebirth, but what this meant to Taliesin himself might be quite different than what we think today. This theme is constantly found in Celtic texts, and readers are left to form their own interpretations. In the Cad Goddeu, Taliesin writes:
"I have been in many shapes
Before I assumed a constant form."
And in another song, he writes:
"I am old, I am young, I am Gwion,
I am universal...I am a bard."
It seems safe to assume, considering these points, that Taliesin is a shining example of an initiate of the highest bardic order. He served (and still serves, through what has come down to us through the ages) as a repository of ancient traditions, which he preserved and passed on through his poetry and stories.
There is much more to be said about Taliesin and his traditions than I can write here. I hope what I have posted will open this thread for more discussion, as together we trace the elusive and shining path of this ancient bard.
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