Welsh poetry

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Welsh poetry may refer to poetry in the Welsh language or to poetry written in Wales or by Welsh poets. (In this article the term is restricted to Welsh-language poetry. For Welsh poetry written in English, see Anglo-Welsh poetry),

History

Main article: Medieval Welsh literature

Wales has one of the earliest literary traditions in Northern Europe, stretching back to the days of Aneirin (fl. 550) and Taliesin (second half of the 6th century), and the haunting Stafell Cynddylan, which is the oldest recorded literary work by a woman in northern Europe.

In Welsh literature the period before 1100 is known as the period of Y Cynfeirdd ("The earliest poets") or Yr Hengerdd ("The old poetry"). It roughly dates from the birth of the Welsh language from Brythonic to the arrival of the Normans in Wales towards the end of the eleventh century.

From ca.1100 until ca.1600 Welsh poetry can be divided roughly into two distinct periods: the period of the Poets of the Princes (Beirdd y Tywysogion, also called Y Gogynfeirdd) who worked before the loss of Welsh independence in 1282 and the Poets of the Nobility (Beirdd yr Uchelwyr) who worked from 1282 until the period of the English incorporation of Wales in the 16th century.

The earliest poem in English by a Welsh poet dates from about 1470. More recently Anglo-Welsh poetry has become an important aspect of Welsh literary culture, as well as being influential on English literature.

Welsh poets often write under bardic names to conceal their identity in Eisteddfod competitions.

Forms

Since the later Middle Ages, the traditional Welsh poetic metres in strict verse consist of twenty four different metrical forms written in cynghanedd.

An awdl is a form of long poem, similar to the ode. The most popular metrical forms are the Cywydd, of 14th century origin, and the several versions of the Englyn, a concise and allusive verse form similar to the Greek epigram and the Japanese haiku and as old as Welsh literature itself.

See also

• List of Welsh language poets
• List of Welsh language authors
• Welsh literature
• Oxford Book of Welsh Verse in English
• British literature

External links

• Welsh Writers
• The Poetry of Wales, by John Jenkins, 1873, from Project Gutenberg
• The Welsh Poetry Competition, launched 2007
• Poetry Book Awards, launched 2020