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Gwerful Mechain

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Gwerful Mechain
Born
Mechain, Kingdom of Powys
OccupationPoet
Years activefl. 1460–1502
Known forErotic poetry

Gwerful Mechain (fl. 1460–1502), is the only female medieval Welsh poet from whom a substantial body of work is known to have survived. She is known for her erotic poetry, in which she praised the vulva among other things.

Life

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Gwerful Mechain lived in Mechain in Powys. Little is known of her life, but it is generally accepted that she was a descendant of a noble family from Llanfechain.[1]

Her father was Hywel Fychan of Mechain in Powys,[2] her mother was named Gwenhwyfar, and she had at least four siblings (three brothers and a sister). She married John ap Llywelyn Fychan and had at least one child, a daughter named Mawd.[3]

Work

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She is perhaps the most famous female Welsh-language poet[4] after Ann Griffiths (1776–1805), who was also from northern Powys. Her work, composed in the traditional strict metres, including cywyddau and englynion, is often a celebration of religion or sex, sometimes within the same poem.

Probably the most famous part of her work today is her erotic poetry, especially Cywydd y Cedor ("Poem to the Vagina"), a poem praising the vulva. In it, she upbraids male poets for celebrating so many parts of a woman's body but ignoring "the girl's middle".[5] "Let songs to the quim grow and thrive", she adjures her readers. "Noble bush, may God save it".[6]

She actively participated in the poetic culture of her day. Many of her surviving poems are examples of ymrysonau (poetic or bardic rivalry)[1] with contemporaries such as Dafydd Llwyd of Mathafarn, Ieuan Dyfi and Llywelyn ap Gutun.[7]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Koch, John T (2006). Celtic Culture: A Historic Encyclopedia Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 862. ISBN 9781851094400.
  2. ^ Harries, Leslie. "GWERFUL MECHAIN (1462? – 1500), poetess". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales.
  3. ^ Gramich (2018), pp. 7–8.
  4. ^ Herbert McAvoy & Watt (2015), p. 11.
  5. ^ Gramich (2018), p. 42.
  6. ^ Gramich (2018), pp. 44–5.
  7. ^ Howells, Nerys Ann, ed. (2001). Gwaith Gwerful Mechain ac Eraill. University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies. ISBN 0-947531-26-2.

Works cited

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  • Gramich, Katie, ed. (2018). The Works of Gwerful Mechain. Broadview Press. ISBN 978-1554814145.
  • Herbert McAvoy, Liz; Watt, Diane (2015). The History of British Women's Writing, 700-1500: Volume One. Palgrave Macmillan UK. ISBN 978-1349313761.

Further reading

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