Dafydd ap Gwilym is regarded as one of the leading Welsh poets and amongst the great poets of Europe in the Middle Ages.
Englyn is a traditional Welsh short poem form. It uses quantitative metres, involving the counting of syllables, and rigid patterns of rhyme and half rhyme. Each line contains a repeating pattern of consonants and accent known as cynghanedd.
The Red Book of Hergest, Oxford, Jesus College, MS 111, is a large vellum manuscript written shortly after 1382, which ranks as one of the most important medieval manuscripts written in the Welsh language. It preserves a collection of Welsh prose and poetry, notably the tales of the Mabinogion and Gogynfeirdd poetry. The manuscript derives its name from the colour of its leather binding and from its association with Hergest Court between the late 15th and early 17th century.
In Welsh poetry, an awdl is a long poem in strict metre. Originally, an awdl could be a relatively short poem unified by its use of a single end-rhyme, using cynghanedd; such early awdlau are associated with the Cynfeirdd such as Aneirin and Taliesin as found in collections such as the Book of Taliesin, the Black Book of Carmarthen, the Hendregadredd Manuscript or The Red Book of Hergest. By the nineteenth century however it came to its modern definition as a long poem using at least two of the twenty-four recognised "official" strict forms.
The cywydd is one of the most important metrical forms in traditional Welsh poetry.
Welsh poetry refers to poetry of the Welsh people or nation. This includes poetry written in Welsh, poetry written in English by Welsh or Wales-based poets, poetry written in Wales in other languages or poetry by Welsh poets around the world.
Medieval Welsh literature is the literature written in the Welsh language during the Middle Ages. This includes material starting from the 5th century AD, when Welsh was in the process of becoming distinct from Common Brittonic, and continuing to the works of the 16th century.
Lewys Glyn Cothi, also known as Llywelyn y Glyn, was a prominent 15th-century Welsh poet who composed numerous poems in the Welsh language. He is one of the most important representatives of the Beirdd yr Uchelwyr or Cywyddwyr ("cywydd-men"), the itinerant professional poets of the period between the 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan and c. 1600.
Guto'r Glyn was a Welsh language poet and soldier of the era of the Beirdd yr Uchelwyr or Cywyddwyr ("cywydd-men"), the itinerant professional poets of the later Middle Ages. He is considered one of the greatest exponents, if not the greatest, of the tradition of "praise-poetry", verse addressed to a noble patron.
Dafydd ab Edmwnd was one of the most prominent Welsh language poets of the Later Middle Ages.
Siôn Cent, was a Welsh language poet, and is an important figure in Medieval Welsh literature.
Tudur Penllyn was a Welsh language poet during the time of the Beirdd yr Uchelwyr, the professional poets of the late Middle Ages.
The traethodl is a Welsh verse form consisting of couplets in which seven-syllabled lines rhyme with alternate accented and unaccented rhyming syllables. It is first attested in medieval Welsh literature. With the addition of cynghanedd, it was elaborated in the 14th century and developed into the cywydd.
Welsh-language literature has been produced continuously since the emergence of Welsh from Brythonic as a distinct language in around the 5th century AD. The earliest Welsh literature was poetry, which was extremely intricate in form from its earliest known examples, a tradition sustained today. Poetry was followed by the first British prose literature in the 11th century. Welsh-language literature has repeatedly played a major part in the self-assertion of Wales and its people. It continues to be held in the highest regard, as evidenced by the size and enthusiasm of the audiences attending the annual National Eisteddfod of Wales, probably the largest amateur arts festival in Europe, which crowns the literary prize winners in a dignified ceremony.
The Englynion y Beddau is a Middle Welsh verse catalogue listing the resting places (beddau) of legendary heroes. It consists of a series of englynion, or short stanzas in quantitative meter, and survives in a number of manuscripts. The collection is thought to be considerably older than its earliest manuscript, the 13th-century Black Book of Carmarthen, and provides an important early glimpse at medieval Welsh heroic tradition and topographical folklore.
Gwerful Fychan was a poet during the period of the Welsh Beirdd yr Uchelwyr during the Late Middle Ages. She came from a noble family, her full name in genealogies being given as Gwerful ferch Ieuan Fychan ap Ieuan ap Hywel y Gadair ap Gruffudd ap Madog ap Rhirid Flaidd. She was the heiress of the mansion of Caer-Gai, near Llanuwchllyn, Merioneth. The name Fychan was later anglicised as Vaughan.
Cerdd dafod is the Welsh tradition of creating verse or poetry to a strict metre in the Welsh language.
"Gorhoffedd Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd", sometimes known in English as "Hywel's Boast", has historically been considered a poem by the mid-12th-century prince, warrior and poet Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd. However, some scholars now believe it to be two quite separate poems by Hywel which have become fused together in the process of manuscript transmission. It is his best-known work. In the first half the poet expresses his love of his native Gwynedd – its scenery, its men and women – and boasts of his own prowess in defending them; in the second he praises several Welsh ladies and tells us how many of them are sexual conquests of his. According to the writer Gwyn Williams, "The sharpness and clarity of the North Wales landscape has never been so well caught in words, nor have tenderness and humour been better mingled in the expression of love".
"Lament for Lleucu Llwyd" is a Middle Welsh poem by the 14th-century bard Llywelyn Goch ap Meurig Hen in the form of a cywydd. It is his most famous work, and has been called one of the finest of all cywyddau and one of the greatest of all Welsh-language love-poems, comparable with the best poems of Dafydd ap Gwilym. The culmination of a series of poems addressed to his lover Lleucu Llwyd, a married woman, it differs from them in calling her forth from her grave as if he were a more conventional lover serenading her as she lies in bed. The effect is said to be "startling, original, but in no way grotesque". "Lament for Lleucu Llwyd" was included in both The Oxford Book of Welsh Verse and The Oxford Book of Welsh Verse in English.
