ABSTRACT
Classical authors have left us with several references to the eloquence of the early Celts (Chadwick 1970: 45–7). Traces of this eloquence have survived into medieval Welsh literature which, although accessible only in written form, reflects much of the oral tradition of the period. Many stylistic features of medieval Welsh poetry and prose betray an oral background, while certain mythological themes and characters in eleventh- and twelfth-century tales are recognizably Celtic in origin, the material having been transmitted orally for centuries before reaching its extant form.
