Three Birds and Two Worlds: Morgan Llwyd rhan 2
Seeing as Richard Wyn Jones joined the Morgan Llwyd fan club in the last episode, here’s an opportunity to discuss the masterpiece of that mystic of an author, ‘The Book of the Three Birds’.
We explain first of all that that is not the book’s real title, and that Morgan Llwyd himself described it as ‘a mystery for some to understand and for others to scorn’; himself a Puritan who was very different from his fellow Welsh people, he knew well that many people would ‘scorn’ the religious ideas he was presenting to them. We also explain that ‘mystery’ is the author’s way of saying that this work is an allegory, with each one of the three birds representing three points of view; here we have allegorical versions of the conservative Anglican, the Puritan and the secular power of the Commonwealth. And this story takes place in two overlapping worlds, as the birds of Noah’s Arch move from that ancient biblical setting to the contemporary world and a country recently shaken by bloody civil wars.
You’ll also be able to hear about a piece of prose described by Saunders Lewis as one ‘of the most profound pieces of autobiography in our Welsh-language literature’. And why is Jerry Hunter so fond of the Raven, the story’s baddy?!
