Gwerful Mechain
{{short description|Welsh poet (fl. 1460–1502)}}
{{distinguish|Gwerful Fychan}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Gwerful Mechain
| years_active = {{fl.|1460–1502}}
| birth_place = Mechain, Kingdom of Powys
| occupation = Poet
| known_for = Erotic poetry
}}
Gwerful Mechain (fl. 1460–1502), is the only female medieval Welsh poet from whom a substantial body of work is known to have survived. She is known for her erotic poetry, in which she praised the vulva among other things.
Life
Gwerful Mechain lived in Mechain in Powys. Little is known of her life, but it is generally accepted that she was a descendant of a noble family from Llanfechain.{{cite book|last1=Koch|first1=John T|title=Celtic Culture: A Historic Encyclopedia Vol. 1|date=2006|publisher=ABC-CLIO|page=862|isbn=9781851094400}}
Her father was Hywel Fychan of Mechain in Powys,{{cite DWB|last1=Harries|first1=Leslie|title=GWERFUL MECHAIN (1462? – 1500), poetess|id=s-GWER-MEC-1462}} her mother was named Gwenhwyfar, and she had at least four siblings (three brothers and a sister). She married John ap Llywelyn Fychan and had at least one child, a daughter named Mawd.{{sfnp|Gramich|2018|pp=7–8}}
Work
She is perhaps the most famous female Welsh-language poet{{sfnp|Herbert McAvoy|Watt|2015|p=11}} after Ann Griffiths (1776–1805), who was also from northern Powys. Her work, composed in the traditional strict metres, including cywyddau and englynion, is often a celebration of religion or sex, sometimes within the same poem.
Probably the most famous part of her work today is her erotic poetry, especially Cywydd y Cedor ("Poem to the Vagina"), a poem praising the vulva. In it, she upbraids male poets for celebrating so many parts of a woman's body but ignoring "the girl's middle".{{sfnp|Gramich|2018|p=42}} "Let songs to the quim grow and thrive", she adjures her readers. "Noble bush, may God save it".{{sfnp|Gramich|2018|pp=44–5}}
She actively participated in the poetic culture of her day. Many of her surviving poems are examples of ymrysonau (poetic or bardic rivalry) with contemporaries such as Dafydd Llwyd of Mathafarn, Ieuan Dyfi and Llywelyn ap Gutun.{{cite book |editor-last=Howells |editor-first=Nerys Ann |title=Gwaith Gwerful Mechain ac Eraill |date=2001 |publisher=University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies |isbn=0-947531-26-2}}
See also
- {{portal inline|Poetry}}
References
{{reflist}}
=Works cited=
- {{cite book |editor-last=Gramich |editor-first=Katie |title=The Works of Gwerful Mechain |date=2018 |publisher=Broadview Press |isbn=978-1554814145}}
- {{cite book |last1=Herbert McAvoy |first1=Liz |last2=Watt |first2=Diane |year=2015 |title=The History of British Women's Writing, 700-1500: Volume One |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=978-1349313761}}
Further reading
- {{cite web |title=On the Gleefully Indecent Poems of a Medieval Welsh Feminist Poet Gwerful Mechain |first=Lauren |last=Cocking |date=9 August 2019 |website=Literary Hub |url=https://lithub.com/on-the-gleefully-indecent-poems-of-a-medieval-welsh-feminist-poet/ |access-date=2023-03-03}}
- {{cite web |first=Danièle |last=Cybulskie |date=January 2019 |title=Gwerful Mechain and the Joy of (Medieval) Sex |website=Medievalists.net |url=https://www.medievalists.net/2019/01/gwerful-mechain-and-the-joy-of-medieval-sex/ |access-date=2023-03-03}}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Foster |editor1-first=Donald W. |editor2-first=Michael |editor2-last=O'Connell |editor3-first=Christine |editor3-last=Reno |editor4-first=Harriet |editor4-last=Spiegel |chapter-url=http://www.wicked-good-books.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/GwerfulExtract1.pdf |chapter=Gwerful Mechain |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170808014358/http://www.wicked-good-books.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/GwerfulExtract1.pdf |archive-date=8 August 2017 |page=466 |title=Women's Works |volume=1: 900 – 1550 |publisher=Wicked Good Books |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-9882820-0-1}}
- {{cite web |last=Gramich |first=Katie |url=http://www2.lingue.unibo.it/acume/acumedvd/Essays%20ACUME/AcumeGramichfinal.pdf |title=Orality and Morality: Early Welsh Women's Poetry |publisher=Cardiff University |year=2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930193104/http://www2.lingue.unibo.it/acume/acumedvd/Essays%20ACUME/AcumeGramichfinal.pdf |archive-date=30 September 2018}}
- {{cite journal |title=The Extraordinary Medieval Woman: Responding to the Critical Reception of Gwerful Mechain's Poetry |journal=Melbourne Historical Journal |year=2020 |volume=47 |pages=43–55 |last=Greig |first=Adelaide |url=https://journal.mhj.net.au/index.php/editions/article/view/5 |access-date=2023-03-03}}
- {{cite book |last=Olsen |first=Kirsten |title=Chronology of Women's History |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-313-28803-6}}
- {{cite news |title=Medieval poet who wrote about domestic abuse, female sexuality – and in praise of vaginas |date=12 December 2019 |first=Rhea Seren |last=Phillips |website=The Conversation |url=https://theconversation.com/medieval-poet-who-wrote-about-domestic-abuse-female-sexuality-and-in-praise-of-vaginas-128252 |access-date=2023-03-03}}
- {{cite web |title=Gwerful Mechain: Themesong from Cunt (Version of Cywydd y Cedor) |date=30 October 2012 |first=Jon |last=Stone |website=Body |url=https://www.bodyliterature.com/2012/10/30/gwerful-mechain/ |access-date=2023-03-03}}
External links
- [https://cy.wikisource.org/wiki/Categori:Gwerful_Mechain Gwerful Mechain at Wikisource]
- [https://inpress.lib.uiowa.edu/feminae/DetailsPage.aspx?Feminae_ID=43101 Gwerful Mechain] at Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gwerful Mechain}}
Category:Year of birth unknown
Category:Year of death unknown
Category:15th-century Welsh poets