WELSH POETRY.

Authors :: J.E.C.W.
Source :: New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry & Poetics; 1993, p1368-1372, 5p
Publication Year :: 1993
Abstract: The article presents a definition of the term WELSH POETRY. WELSH POETRY has a history spanning 14 centuries, from the odes of Taliesin and Aneirin in the 6th c. to the odes of the poets who now compete for the chair every year at the Royal National Eisteddfodau of Wales (see EISTEDDFOD). We deduce from Gildas' diatribe on the bards of Maelgwn, King of Gwynedd (d. ca. A.D. 547) that theirs was a trad. which, derived through the Celts from Indo-European peoples, accorded bards a special role--on account of the magical powers attributed to them--in relation to their rulers.