Mabinogi Study

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====== Mabinogi Quotes Collection ======
References are very briefly indicated but with enough information to find full referencing in the Bibliography.
 
|**DATE**|**AUTHOR**|**QUOTE**|
|1802 Jan. 21|Pughe|'The //Mabinogion//, or Juvenile Amusements, being a kind of dramatic tales, are in themselves some of our most singular productions; and I have little hesitation in asserting them to have been the origin of romance writing in Europe.' Address to Society of Antiquaries, London. (Publ. 1808, p. 219)\\ //19thC/ Romance//|
|1830 Sept 41|Aneirin Owen|(Pughe's son, letter to to A. J. Johnes) 'My Father has promised me to write to Mr. Hughes this day on the subject of the Mabinogion. His wish is to have the work published at Denbigh under his own inspection, as he could intrust the correction of the press to no one but himself. … We have already the sum of £50 lodged in Denbigh Bank to be applied towards the expenses, and I shall conceive than [sic] an additional £50 would be sufficient to set the work on foot.' (Marion Henry Jones, 'The Letters of Arthur James Johnes', 1809 -71, NLWJ, v. 10, no. 3, (1958) p. 243)\\ //19thC//|
|1830 Sept 4|Aneirin Owen|(Pughe's son, letter to to A. J. Johnes) ‘I cannot expect any further assistance from my Father. Since his return from S. Wales last autumn he has not been able to amuse himself with literary employment, the reading of a newspaper is too great a task for him and he feels this deprivation the more poignantly, as other sources of amusement do not interest him. His disorder is evidently nervous, perhaps accelerated by exposure and exertion … (p. 244) I could have wished a revision of the Mabinogion, but this under present circumstances must be dispensed with, & as it the work is complete, it had better be published …’ (Marion Henry Jones, 'The Letters of Arthur James Johnes', 1809 -71, NLWJ, v. 10, no. 3, (1958) pp. 243-44)\\ //19thC/ Pughe//|
|1834 May 24|Pughe|From Egryn, Denbigh. ‘Dear Friend, … I am highly flattered with your intention of inscribing this publication to me, a memorial of my having taken some pains with the work. [He does not refer to the Mabinogion here.] Synden -line – I have – I break off, dear friend, finding myself unable to proceed with the necessary application as a few minutes of either reading or writing causes me much fatigue about the back and loins. … I suffer no pain, except feeling the fatigue … my tongue runs on very well and without fatigue – and all this makes me concerned at leaving your letter unanswered … Yours truly – Farewell! Wm. Owen Pughe’ (Marion Henry Jones, 'The Letters of Arthur James Johnes', 1809 -71, NLWJ, v. 10, no. 3, (1958) pp. 256-57)\\ //19thC/ Pughe//|
|1834 est.|Guest|'Why should we disregard our own traditions ... because they have not been handed down in Greek or Latin? For my own part, I love the old Legends and Romances as they teach us so naturally the manners and opinions of those who were, in fact, much more nearly connected with us of the present day than were any of the heroes of Rome.' Visit to Warwick Castle. (Guest, R & John 2007 p. 103. Not dated.) \\ //19thC/ journal//|
|1835 Nov.|Guest|On meeting Elijah Waring ‘our conversation turned much on the superstitions and legends of Wales - I think it might be desirable to make a collection of them.' (S.Davies, 'Guest', p. 102)\\ //19thC/ journal//|
|1838 Jan 6|Guest|She found the work difficult 'being so little conversant with the Welsh' (S.Davies, 'Guest', p. 112)\\ //19thC/ journal//|
|1838|Guest|‘the Cymric nation ... has strong claims to be considered the cradle of European Romance' (Everyman ed. 1906, p. xxiii)\\  //Romance//|
|1839 27 April|Guest|'I cannot endure anything in a second grade. I am happy to see we are at the head of the iron trade. Otherwise I could not take pride in my house in the City and my Works at Dowlais, and glory (playfully) in being (in some sort) a tradeswoman. Then again, my blood is of the noblest and most princely in the Kingdom, and if I go into Society, it must be the very best and first. I can brook no other. If I occupy myself in writing, my book must be splendidly got up and must be, as far at least as decoration and typography are concerned, at the head of literature'. (S.Davies, 'Guest', p. 170)\\ //19thC/ journal//|
|1867|Arnold|'The very first thing that strikes one, in reading the Mabinogion, is how evidently the mediaeval storyteller is pillaging an antiquity of which he does not fully possess the secret; he is like a peasant building his hut on the site of Halicarnassus or Ephesus; he builds, but what he builds is full of materials of which he knows not the history, or knows by a glimmering tradition merely—stones "not of this building," but of an older architecture, greater, cunninger, more majestical. In the medieval stories of no Latin or Teutonic people does this strike one as in those of the Welsh.' (Part II, p. 61.)\\ //Political/ 19thC/ status//|
|1901|Anwyl|The Mabinogi 'form a unified whole, worked together with considerable skill by a writer to whom the materials seem to have been thoroughly familiar from frequent narration'. (Part IV, p. 123)\\  //Coherent Literature//|
|1911|E.J.Lloyd|'To appreciate fully the value of the Mabinogion as Literature', we must examine their structures and formation, we must study their plot and style', and ‘The first thing one notices about the Four Branches is that they form a complete and coherent whole'. (p. ) cf. Arnold, 1867\\  //Coherent Literature//|
|1929|Ellis & Lloyd|'The intention of Lady Charlotte Guest appears to have been to produce a version which could be used for the instruction and amusement of her own children, with the result that parts of her translation are either inaccurate or bowdlerised.' (p. viii)\\  //Critique Guest// |
|1948|Jones & Jones|Guest's text is ‘but a paraphrase’ and ‘not the beauties of the original.' (pp. 5-6)\\  //Critique Guest// |
|1974|Bollard|'There is no incident or detail which remains isolated or superfluous in the Four Branches.' (In Sullivan, p. 168)\\ //Coherent Literature//|
|1974|Bollard|'the author has utilized his material to create a work that is both meaningful and artistically unified. The intricate structure which can be seen throughout the Mabinogi is very closely woven, yet the author has sufficient control over his materials and over his own artistry to prevent the tales from becoming too complex in their interrelationships.' (In Sullivan, p. 192)\\ //Coherent Literature//|
|1974|Bollard|'The four branches have the effect of presenting the tales to us much the same way that decorative interlace designs form knots which help to create form within the interlace. The four tales are juxtaposed in order that the reader might compare the events of one with those of another, while each forms a complete tale in itself. The author expects his readers to keep in mind various themes, and when an episode arises, a slight reference to similar previous occurrences interlaces them together and we get a broader view of the entire pattern of the tales.' (In Sullivan, p. 168)\\ //Interweaving Literature//|
|1974|Bollard|'The three major themes which the author develops in the Four Branches are three of the functions of society which bind together, or separate, various groups and elements of that society. These themes I have rather loosely termed Friendships, Marriages and Feuds.' (In Sullivan, p. 168)\\ //Three themes//|
|1986|Valente |'Rhiannon is a mother, and her son is in danger of his life; there is nothing odd in her behavior, nothing impulsive about her reaction … were she to to stand complacently at Manawydan's side, we would find her to be a heartless creature.' (p. 6)\\ //Women//|
|1986|Valente |Of Rhiannon: 'Speech is as important a factor in the analysis of her character as is her golden costume or the fact that she rides a supernatural horse.' (p. 46)\\ //Women/ Voice//|
|1986|Valente |'I would now like to turn to the women, as Bollard suggested, and see what powers and significance they have in the story— and actually possessed in the medieval world— listening to what they are saying to the reader in their own words.' (p. 91; Cites Bollard, 'Structure' p. 132)\\ //Women//|
|1995|Hemming, then Hooker|‘the //Mabinogi// as it stands is a coherent and logical piece of work’ and ‘the meaning may be extracted only through examining the narrative structure.' (p. 14)\\ //Coherent Literature//|
|2004|S. Davies|'It is certainly no exaggeration to claim that, as a direct result of Guest’s translation, medieval Welsh literature was placed on the European stage.' ('Guest', p. 161)\\  //19thC/ status/Guest critique//|
|2004|S. Davies|'such critics seem to want it both ways: the translation is not scholarly and the fault lies with Lady Charlotte; on the other hand, she was heavily indebted to excellent Welsh scholars such as Carnhuanawc, Tegid and others.'('Guest', p. 167; also see White, ‘Crimes’, (1995), p. 247.)\\ //19thC/ Guest critique//|

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Mabinogi Study

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