The Gododdin of Aneirin: Text and Context from Dark-Age North Britain [Paperback]

John T Koch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1997

This book is unprecedented in its attempt to reconstruct the early Welsh poetry of the Book of Aneirin's version of the Dark Age epic Gododdin. John Koch investigates the historical context, and the process of transmission, between the seventh century poem and the thirteenth century text, seeking to restore the text to its original form. A substantial historical introduction is followed by the centrepiece of the book, a newly reconstructd text. This differs from earlier editions in that the system adopted allows the separation of original material from later modifications. English translation and extensive notes are also included.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John T. Koch is senior research fellow at the University of Wales Centre for Adavance Welsh and Celtic Studies, located at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. He is also (with John Carey) the editor of The Celtic Heroic Age.

Product Details

• Paperback: 262 pages
• Publisher: Celtic Studies Publications (January 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964244675
• ISBN-13: 978-0964244672
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,891,249 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Songs of Yore..., April 16, 2001

By 

Jean-Michel (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gododdin of Aneirin: Text and Context from Dark-Age North Britain (Paperback)

If perchance you are seeking a good translation of "Aneirin's" Gododdin, this probably is the one to get. Dr Koch has managed to present a very thorough reconstruction of this epic poem, with the full apparatus you'd expect from a scholarly book such as this one. Indeed, you get a long and precise discussion of the text in the introduction, an Old/Middle Welsh - English facing translation and complete footnotes to help you make the best out of the text. Be warned, though. This book isn't for the faint of heart nor for the neophyte who expects an introduction to the subject or to the field of Insular Celtic Studies. The author expects the reader to be at the very least familiar to the setting of Dark Age Britain. Yet, since you are reading this, surely this warning is useless. All in all, the best your money can buy if only a bit mind-boggling in its sheer complexity. But for this, it is I who is to blame !

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Average as a translation, better as a reconstruction, December 3, 2002

By 

"keeneenk47" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gododdin of Aneirin: Text and Context from Dark-Age North Britain (Paperback)

The basic aim of this book is to show that Aneirin, who lived in the 7th century C.E., could have written the "Gododdin," which was first transcribed (that we know of) in the 13th century C.E. To do this, Koch works backwards from the text we have in the Book of Aneirin. The first half of the book is the introduction, which as O.J. Padel noted read more like working notes than anything intended for public consumption, and surely not for the casual reader.

This is a brilliant work in its own right, but readers looking for a good English translation of the Gododdin might be better off looking at Jarman's work, which is quite poetic and is bilingual between English and modern Welsh.

4.0 out of 5 stars Not for beginners, December 31, 2006

By 

G. R. Grove "gwernin" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gododdin of Aneirin: Text and Context from Dark-Age North Britain (Paperback)

If you have never met _Y Gododdin_ before, don't start with this book - go look for a copy of A. O. H. Jarman's bilingual edition instead. On the other hand, if you are already an enthusiast, buy it by all means - you will find much here to interest, intrigue, educate, challenge and possibly annoy you. The long introduction is practically a book in itself, if a rather dense one; the translations (there are, in a manner of speaking, two - Koch's reconstructed Old Welsh version of the medieval manuscript, plus his English translation) are also interesting, if very literal-minded. I do recommend this book - but not for beginners.