The Anathemata
Rite and Fore-time (continued)
here lie dragons and old Pendragonsa
very bleached.1
His unconformingb bed, as yet
is by the muses kept.c
David Jones notes
1 The Welsh name for the peak of Snowdon is Moel yr Wyddfa, the Hill of the Burial Mound. Traditions of imprisoned dragons and buried heroes attach to the site; ver-tigérnus, a ‘chief lord’. Cf. Vortigern.
additional notes
1 Vortigern, if he existed at all, was a legendary 5th-century CE English ruler best known for inviting the Saxons to Britain to stop the incursions of the Picts and Scots and allowing them to take control of the land. For ver-tigérnus as ‘chief lord’ and its relation to Vortigern, see this very learned article.
a Pendragon was the name of a number of kings of ancient Britain.
b corrected from the text 'uncomforming', which makes no geological sense.
c as though Snowdon were the home of the muses of Welsh poets.
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