What is the author's style in The Mabinogion ?

The Mabinogion was originally written in Welsh and has been translated into English. However, even though the translation was made in the early 20th Century, the translators have deliberately used an archaic version of English, which suits the setting of the tales.

The earlier tales have a narrative style that is suited to oral storytelling, with description sparse and formulaic language common, with the best example of formulaic language appearing in "Culhwch and Olwen" in the exchange between Ysbaddaden and Culhwch. On the whole, characters are rather one-dimensional and are not well rounded.

The later tales are more likely to have been written rather than oral, as they contain much more detailed descriptions of the characters, which would have been harder for an oral storyteller to recount.