Welsh Poetry - History

History

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.