Poetry from Wales has its own flavour and history. Poetry in Welsh is popular in Wales and is in fact favoured over English poetry. Welsh poems, unlike English poems which is more free in style, has strict metres and rhymes alongside being lyrical and harmonious.
Welsh poetry is the easiest surviving Welsh poetry and dates back to 400 -700 AD. Early Welsh poetry were often performed orally in court and seldom written down. Famous poets from this era include Aneirin and Taliesin who were ‘poets of the old north’ and of the bardic tradition. Poetry was also written during the Anglo-Saxon invasion about the defeat of the English. Religious poetry was also popular from this period and englynion (a transitional Welsh short poetry form) were written about God and Christianity.
Another important period in Welsh poetry is called the ‘Poets of the Princes’ which refer to poets who work professionally in the princely courts in Wales and sang the poetry. Poets praised military prowess echoing style of earlier poems written by Taliesin. However, this tradition began to disappear with the death of the last native prince of Wales in 1282.
Welsh poetry was not translated into English in large quantity until the 20th century, when the language itself went into decline. In the search of Nationalism, Welsh poetry began to take on an important role of manifesting Welsh identity as Gillian Clarke refers to a poet as ‘the voice of the tribe’. Many Welsh poets began to write in English and among those poets were Gillian Clarke and Dylan Thomas. Dylan Thomas’s poetry particular is known around the globe and his poetry was heavily influenced by his childhood memories of rural Wales.
Today, Welsh people still see poetry as an important part of their culture and identity. Many would commission poets to write englynion on the graves of their loved ones and poetry written in Welsh is on its way of revival, with modernism poets writing about diverse themes.
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