Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 43101
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Mechain , Gwerful,
  • Contributor(s): Gramich, Katie, ed. and trans.
  • Title: The Works of Gwerful Mechain
  • Source: The Works of Gwerful Mechain. Edited and translated by Katie Gramich.  Broadview Press, 2018.
  • Description: Contents: Poems / Gwerful Mechain -- 1. Dioddefaint Crist / Christ's Passion -- 2. Angau a barn / Death and Judgement -- 3. Cywydd y cedor / Poem to the vagina -- 4. I wragedd eiddigus / To jealous wives -- 5. I Lywelyn ap Gutun / To Llywelyn ap Gutun -- 6. I ateb Ieuan Dyfi am gywydd Anni Goch / A response to Ieuan Dyfi's poem on Red Annie -- 7. Gwerful Mechain yn holi Dafydd Llwyd / Gwerful Mechain questions Dafydd Llwyd -- 8. Gwerful Mechain yn gofyn i Dafydd Llwyd / Gwerful Mechain asks Dafydd Llwyd -- 9. Ymddiddan rhwng Dafydd Llwyd a Gwerful Mechain / Conversation between Dafydd Llwyd and Gwerful Mechain -- 10. Dafydd Llwyd yn ateb Gwerful Mechain / Dafydd Llwyd replies to Gwerful Mechain -- 11. I'w gwr am ei churo / To her husband for beating her -- 12. Gwlychu pais / Wetting my petticoat -- 13. Llanc ym min y llwyn / A lad beside the bush -- 14. I'w morwyn wrth gachu / To her maid as she shits -- Poems of Uncertain Authorship -- 15. Ynghylch ei thad / About her father -- 16. Pwy a gar fwyaf? / Who loves more passionately? -- 17. Gwerful yn ateb Dafydd Llwyd / Gwerful replies to Dafydd Llwyd -- 18. Yr eira / The snow -- 19. Y bedd / The grave -- In Context -- 20. Ieuan Dyfi, I Anni Goch / To Red Annie -- 21. Dafydd Llwyd, Cywydd llateiaeth i Werful Mechain ac i yrru Llywelyn ap Gutun ati yn llatai / A love-message poem to Gwerful Mechain, sending Llywelyn ap Gutun to her as a messenger -- 22. Llywelyn ap Gutun, Ateb i'r cywydd llateiaeth / A response to the love-message poem -- 23. Dafydd Llwyd, Moliant i Werful Mechain / In praise of Gwerful Mechain -- 24. Gwerful ferch Gutun o Dalysarn, Cywydd i ofyn telyn rawn / Poem to ask for a harp -- 25. Dafydd ap Gwilym, Cywydd y gal / Poem to the penis -- 26. Anonymous, Englyn i'r gal / Englyn to the Penis.
  • Article Type: Edition of Text ; Translation
  • Subject (See Also): Gwenful Mechain, Female Welsh Poet Literature- Verse Welsh Literature Language: English Middle Welsh
  • Award Note: Feminae Translation of the Month, September 2018 [Posted July 2019]
  • Geographic Area: British Isles
  • Century: 15
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations:
  • Table:
  • Abstract: Gwerful Mechain is the only Welsh female poet from the late middle ages whose poems have survived as a substantial body of work. One of the most immediately striking characteristics of her poetry is the easy coexistence in her oeuvre of devotional and erotic works. Even to those who may be familiar with the bawdiness of Chaucer or Boccaccio, Gwerful's work is remarkably direct. Yet, as the introduction discusses, some sorts of coexistence of the erotic and the religious were not entirely untypical of medieval literary production in Wales; overall, indeed, one of the most important characteristics of Gwerful's work is the degree to which it takes its place in the mainstream of medieval Welsh poetry. Her themes and techniques do not position her as a marginal or isolated figure, participating in some putative female sub-culture; on the contrary, she engages in poetic dialogues with her male contemporaries, using the same forms, tropes, and vocabulary as they do. Yet, she often speaks with a female voice and overtly sees things from a woman's point of view, taking her peers to task for their male arrogance. She jousts with them verbally as their equal, confident in her own craft and opinions. All of Gwerful's known work is included here-as are several poems of uncertain authorship, and a number of other works that help to fill in the historical and literary context. A unique feature of the volume is the provision, for each work of medieval Welsh poetry included, of two different translations. The first, a literal translation, is presented in facing page format opposite the original Welsh; a second, freer translation, with rhyme patterns approximating those of the original, follows. [Description reproduced from the publisher’s website.]
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  • Author's Affiliation: Cardiff University
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2018.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 9781554814145