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Traditional Welsh Poetic Meters
The traditional Welsh poetic meters consist of 24 types of poetic meter, called Y Pedwar Mesur ar Hugain in Welsh. They are all written in cynghanedd of varying degrees of complexity. Although called "traditional," they were compiled – and later redefined at least once – in the Late Middle Ages and omit some of the older forms such as the ''englyn milwr''. Only a few of them were widely used by the professional poets (''Beirdd yr Uchelwyr''), and the use of some of the more complicated ones is confined to occasional poems of technical virtuosity dating to the end of the Middle Ages. The twenty four traditional Welsh poetic meters are: *Awdl-gywydd *Byr-a-thoddaid *Cadwynfyr *Clogyrnach *Cyhydedd Fer *Cyhydedd Hir *Cyhydedd Naw Ban *Cyrch-a-chwta *Cywydd Deuair Fyrion *Cywydd Deuair Hirion: see Cywydd *Cywydd Llosgyrnog * Englyn Proest Cyfnewidiog * Englyn Proest Cadwynog * Englyn Unodl Crwca * Englyn Unodl Union *Gorchest Beirdd *Gwawdodyn Byr *Gwawdodyn Hir *Hir-a-thoddaid *R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poetic Meter
In poetry, metre ( Commonwealth spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set of metres alternating in a particular order. The study and the actual use of metres and forms of versification are both known as prosody. (Within linguistics, " prosody" is used in a more general sense that includes not only poetic metre but also the rhythmic aspects of prose, whether formal or informal, that vary from language to language, and sometimes between poetic traditions.) Characteristics An assortment of features can be identified when classifying poetry and its metre. Qualitative versus quantitative metre The metre of most poetry of the Western world and elsewhere is based on patterns of syllables of particular types. The familiar type of metre in English-language poetry is called qualitative metre, with stressed syllables coming ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Welsh Language
Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language family, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it has also been known in English as "British", "Cambrian", "Cambric" and "Cymric". The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 gave the Welsh language official status in Wales. Both the Welsh and English languages are ''de jure'' official languages of the Welsh Parliament, the Senedd. According to the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the Welsh-speaking population of Wales aged three or older was 17.8% (538,300 people) and nearly three quarters of the population in Wales said they had no Welsh language skills. Other estimates suggest that 29.7% (899,500) of people aged three or older in Wales could speak Welsh in June 2022. Almost half of all Welsh speakers consider themselves fluent Welsh speakers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cynghanedd
In Welsh-language poetry, ''cynghanedd'' (, literally "harmony") is the basic concept of sound-arrangement within one line, using stress, alliteration and rhyme. The various forms of ''cynghanedd'' show up in the definitions of all formal Welsh verse forms, such as the ''awdl'' and ''cerdd dafod''. Though of ancient origin, ''cynghanedd'' and variations of it are still used today by many Welsh-language poets. A number of poets have experimented with using ''cynghanedd'' in English-language verse, for instance Gerard Manley Hopkins. Some of Dylan Thomas's work is also influenced by ''cynghanedd''. Forms of ''cynghanedd'' Note that ⟨dd⟩, ⟨ll⟩ and ⟨ch⟩ are digraphs in the Welsh alphabet, each representing a single consonant /ð/, /ɬ/ and /χ/ respectively. ''Cynghanedd groes'' ("cross-harmony") All consonants surrounding the main stressed vowel before the caesura must be repeated after it in the same order. However, the final consonants of the final words of each ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Renaissance). Around 1300, centuries of prosperity and growth in Europe came to a halt. A series of famines and Plague (disease), plagues, including the Great Famine of 1315–1317 and the Black Death, reduced the population to around half of what it had been before the calamities. Along with depopulation came social unrest and endemic warfare. France and England experienced serious peasant uprisings, such as the Jacquerie and the Peasants' Revolt, as well as over a century of intermittent conflict, the Hundred Years' War. To add to the many problems of the period, the unity of the Catholic Church was temporarily shattered by the Western Schism. Collectively, those events are sometimes called the Crisis of the Late Middle Ages. D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Occasional Poems
Occasional poetry is poetry composed for a particular occasion. In the history of literature, it is often studied in connection with orality, performance, and patronage. Term As a term of literary criticism, "occasional poetry" describes the work's purpose and the poet's relation to subject matter. It is not a genre, but several genres originate as occasional poetry, including epithalamia (wedding songs), dirges or funerary poems, paeans, and victory odes. Occasional poems may also be composed exclusive of or within any given set of genre conventions to commemorate single events or anniversaries, such as birthdays, foundings, or dedications. Occasional poetry is often lyric because it originates as performance, in antiquity and into the 16th century even with musical accompaniment; at the same time, because performance implies an audience, its communal or public nature can place it in contrast with the intimacy or personal expression of emotion often associated with the term "l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cywydd
The cywydd (; plural ) is one of the most important metrical forms in traditional Welsh poetry (cerdd dafod). There are a variety of forms of the cywydd, but the word on its own is generally used to refer to the ("long-lined couplet") as it is by far the most common type. The first recorded examples of the cywydd date from the early 14th century, when it is believed to have been developed. This was the favourite metre of the Poets of the Nobility, the poets working from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries, and it is still used today. The cywydd consists of a series of seven-syllable lines in rhyming couplets, with all lines written in cynghanedd. One of the lines must finish with a stressed syllable, while the other must finish with an unstressed syllable. The rhyme may vary from couplet to couplet, or may remain the same. There is no rule about how many couplets there must be in a cywydd. The and the related , and the all occur in the list of the twenty four tradit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Englyn
(; plural ) is a traditional Welsh and Cornish 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 . Early history The is found in the work of the earliest attested Welsh poets (the ), where the main types are the three-line and . It is the only set stanzaic metre found in the early Welsh poetic corpus, and explanations for its origins have tended to focus on stanzaic Latin poetry and hymns; however, it is as likely to be a development within the Brittonic poetic tradition. Whereas the metrical rules of later are clear (and are based on counting syllables), the precise metre of the early is debated and could have involved stress-counting. The earliest are found as marginalia written in a tenth-century hand in the Juvencus Manuscript. Many early form poems which seem to represent moments of characters' emotional reflection i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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. 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. The 9th century ''Canu Llywarch Hen'' and ''Canu Heledd'' are both associated with the earlier prince Llywarch Hen. Welsh poetry is connected directly to the bardic tradition, and is historically divided into four periods.Loesch, K. T. (1983). Welsh bardic poetry and performance in the middle ages. In D. W. Thompson (Ed.), ''Performance of Literature in Historical Perspectives'' (177–190). Lanham, MD: University Press of America. The first period, befo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Literature Of Wales (Welsh Language)
Welsh-language literature ( cy, Llenyddiaeth Gymraeg) has been produced continuously since the emergence of Welsh from Brythonic as a distinct language in around the 5th century AD. Huws Daniel National Library of Wales and Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic studies. 2022. ''A Repertory of Welsh Manuscripts and Scribes C.800-C.1800.'' Aberystwyth: National Library of Wales and the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies. 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 (such as that contained in the Mabinogion). 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 (''Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru''), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eisteddfod
In Welsh culture, an ''eisteddfod'' is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term ''eisteddfod'', which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, according to Hywel Teifi Edwards, "sitting-together." Edwards further defines the earliest form of the eisteddfod as a competitive meeting between bards and minstrels, in which the winner was chosen by a noble or royal patron.Hywel Teifi Edwards (2015), ''The Eisteddfod'', pages 5–6. The first documented instance of such a literary festival and competition took place under the patronage of Prince Rhys ap Gruffudd of the House of Dinefwr at Cardigan Castle in 1176. However, with the loss of Welsh independence at the hands of King Edward I, the closing of the bardic schools, and the Anglicization of the Welsh nobility, it fell into abeyance. The current format owes much to an 18th-century revival, first patronized and overseen by the L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medieval Welsh Literature
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. The Welsh language became distinct from other dialects of Old British sometime between AD 400 and 700; the earliest surviving literature in Welsh is poetry dating from this period. The poetic tradition represented in the work of ''Y Cynfeirdd'' ("The Early Poets"), as they are known, then survives for over a thousand years to the work of the ''Poets of the Nobility'' in the 16th century. The core tradition was praise poetry; and the poet Taliesin was regarded as the first in the line. The other aspect of the tradition was the professionalism of the poets and their reliance on patronage from kings, princes and nobles for their living. The fall of the Kingdom of Gwynedd and the loss of Welsh independence in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Welsh-language Literature
Welsh-language literature ( cy, Llenyddiaeth Gymraeg) has been produced continuously since the emergence of Welsh from Brythonic as a distinct language in around the 5th century AD. Huws Daniel National Library of Wales and Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic studies. 2022. ''A Repertory of Welsh Manuscripts and Scribes C.800-C.1800.'' Aberystwyth: National Library of Wales and the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies. 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 (such as that contained in the Mabinogion). 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 (''Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru''), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
