rhyddyd i gelfyddyd

much is made of bardic poetry in wales. historically, it was usually comissioned or written in praise of a patron. although today the social context which gave rise to this highly wrought, almost enclosed world of word labour is gone much of the consonant trickery (as well as difficult verse forms) remains in the modern poetry. i can't do it...

there was poetry before this canu caeth (caeth = bondman n.m. (caethion) slave n.m. (caethion) bond adj. confined adj. close adj. strict adj. stringent adj. draconian adj. impacted adj.) as well as during and after, that was free from the bonds of cynghanedd as well as being structurally different from the 24 recognised bardic meters. it was sung by the cler
as the professional bards called them. cler means flies or dung beetles.

one of these meters is called englyn milwr

du dy farch du dy capan
du dy ben du dy hunan
iad du. ai ti yscolan

mi yscolan yscolheig
yscon ei bwyll. yscodig
gwae ni bawdd a gawdd gwledig

o losgi eglwys a lladd buwch ysgol
a llyfyr rodd - ei foddi
fy penyd yw trwm cyni

creawdwr y creadurie. perthide mwya
madde di imi fy gau
a’th fradws ti a’m twylles inne

blwyddyn llawn y’m doded
ym bangor ar pawl cored
edrych di. poen i mi gan môr bryfed

bai ys gwypwn ar wn. mor amlwg gwynt.
o flaen brig gwydd ffaw llwm.
ar a wneuthum e byth nis gwnawn.

here is my rough translation

black your horse, black your cloak
black your head, black your self
black skull, is it you, yscolan?

i am yscolan the champion.
you are light brained you wild phantom
woe to him who does not give what the hero wants

for burning a church and killing school cattle
and drowning of a gift book
my sentence is heavy anguish.

creator of creatures strangest wonders
forgive my wrong
he that betrayed you deceived me.

i was put for a full year
in a wattled fence on the stake of a dam
see the pain I have from sea insects

if I had known what I know. as plain as wind
before branches that are brittle on sick trees
i would never have done what I did

the original can be veiwed here

the englyn milwr form changed slightly and is alive in todays tradition and known as a triban

it is not much concerned with the fabric of poesy any more but rather uses that fabric to make jokes about bottoms and genitals. it reached its zenith in south wales in the early twentieth century when its ribaldry came face to face with religious fundamentalism. as the language declines so does the tradition

fi gwnes acha bora
fi nethoi fargen deche
fi brynes fochyn gan ryw ddyn
a thwll ei din yn ishe

tri peth ni saif yn llonydd
yw niwl ar ben y minydd
col o fangor heb un clwm
a chala twm sion dafydd

mi weles merch lliw'r lili
yn pisho ar y bili
ag wrth ei waith yn gyllwng dwr
bu dounaw gwr ar foddi

tri pheth ni saif heb shiglo
yw llong ar mor yn seilo
dail yr aethnen un yr haf
a thin merch braf wrth ddanso

these verses can be sung to the melody given below - y folantein