#englyn

[dissociative-disaster]

Pa uffern do’ ni ar y bryniau hyn?

Creulon ein dyfeisiau,

ein hoff ddiniwed-arfau;

Daw prin ddigonus ddagrau.

- Englyn fer am yr olygfa o chwareli’r Eryri drwy fy ffenestr.

[rael-f-wae]

Soldiers' verse I thunder forth. This englyn is Welsh in form, sharp as spears and loud as horn. Standing stoutly, though quite short, three by three these troops report, quickly building mighty forts. This is natural to me; it is what I came to see pour from me, as storm from sea, on a magic fateful day when the sky and clouds were gray, when I, a dark star, sprung a ray, when I was forlorn with bile and my pick stuck ope this Nile, since here flowing all the while.

[graywyvern]

( via / via via @violetbondart )

Helix Noise - 230520.

"lego shiba"

too much fun for the small screen platforms in chaos gangrene i prowl among the darkling screnery remarking gray & green

lego shiba i distill dingleberries of my will & hope to avoid the killing locale of a fallow skull-hill

Mod dancer.

"Sad Song of Cuacuauhtzin

My heart craves the flowers, that they be in my hands. With songs I am saddened, I only try to compose songs on the earth. I, Cuacuauhtzin, with anxiety I desire the flowers, that they be in my hands, for I am dispossessed.

Where would we go that we never have to die? Though I be precious stone, though I be gold, I will be dissolved, there in the crucible melted down. I have only my life, I, Cuacuauhtzin, I am dispossessed.

You make resound your kettle drum of jade, your red and blue conch shell, you, Yoyontzin, Panting One. Now he has come, now the singer has risen. For a short time be happy, come and be present, those with the sad heart. Now he has come, now the singer has risen.

Open the corolla of your heart, let it tread the lofty heights. You have hated me, you have marked me for death. Now I go to His house, I will perish. Perhaps because of me you will weep, because of me you will be sad, you, my friend, but now I will go, now I am going to His house. Only this my heart tells, I will not return, never will come back to the earth, now I will go, I am going to His house.

Only useless effort, enjoy, enjoy, my friends. Should we not be happy, should we not have pleasure, my friends? I will take with me the beautiful flowers, the beautiful songs.

Never I do it in springtime, I alone am in need, alone am I, Cuacuauhtzin. Should we not enjoy, my friends? I will take with me the beautiful flowers, the beautiful songs."

--Fifteen Poets of the Aztec World, Miguel León-Portilla (1992)

Coming Soon.

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Hey. Hi. Hello. Today I learned about the existence of 15th century Welsh poet Gwerful Mechain and that she apparently has a surviving work of erotic poems.

Please. For Christmas. For Yule. Please tell me more because I can't read Welsh.

Heh heh. Oh, Gwerful Mechain is the absolute best.

(Quick housekeeping to keep the post manageable - I previously wrote about things like cynghanedd and cywydds and englyns and such here, so check that if you need an explanation.)

What's fun is that we don't know a ton about her, because not a lot got written down about people in her time. Her surviving work covers a 40ish year span at the end of the 1400s to just into the 1500s, but we don't know when she was born or died or anything like that. We know her parents' names? And that she was from Mechain, hence the bardic name. And that she married a guy and had a daughter, something which actually does mark out her body of work as different from her contemporaries; being a wife and mother, she couldn't do the usual bardic role of travelling the country to spread news and play at courts. This means she doesn't have any of the praise poetry that a lot of male bards produced about the lords that hosted them.

But, there's stuff we can piece together about her. For one thing, she was not just literate (not a universal skill for anyone at that point, but especially for women), but she was astonishingly well-read and had what appears to be a classical education, given her poetic references and traditional Welsh meters. For another, her work often had recurring themes of religion, sex, and women's rights, sometimes all at the same time.

At the point Gwerful was active, Welsh bardic culture heavily featured ymrysonau. An ymryson is like... well, I hesitate to say "sort of like a rap battle" after the way everyone and their dog now thinks that's what the Mari Lwyd does, but they were like a cross between a rap battle and the publication war between two rival academics. A bard would write an englyn and publish it in the local parish newsletter. Another bard would see this, and write their own englyn about how stupid the first bard's englyn was, and publish it in the same newsletter. The first bard would see this and retaliate. The second bard would retaliate to that. And on and on it would go, like a printed tennis match for all the parishioners to enjoy, until someone wrote a conclusive verse OR until someone went "Lol, you got me good there" and bowed out with dignity. Sometimes, these things were fucking vicious; but other times, they were just banter between two bards who knew each other and were enjoying the chance to keep their poetic skills in tip top condition.

Now, Gwerful was an active and enthusiastic participant in ymrysonau. We have many examples of her work from these. There are two of particular note that I'll list here, each against a different bard:

Dafydd Llwyd o Fathafarn. Mathafarn and Mechain are not so distant from one another, so no real surprise that these two locked horns a lot, but the impression I always got from their ymrysonau is that they were good mates, actually. These fell into the 'banter' category more often than not. Dafydd was a Welsh Nationalist who was hoping for a Welshman to rise up and throw off the yoke of English oppression, and most of his work is about that, but he turned up the filthy erotic shit for any ymryson with Gwerful because BOY HOWDY was that her specialty. IIRC she did occasionally poke fun at his Welsh Nash leanings, especially his obsession with Mab Darogan (OLD Welsh idea that translates to the Son of Prophesy - the Arthur-style figure that will one day drive out the English overlords), but mostly their ymrysonau were incredibly beautifully-written odes that could be summed up as "Dafydd, my man, my good friend, I mean this sincerely: suck my entire clit".

She often won.

Ieuan Dyfi. God, what a fucking asshole. This one was not banter. Gwerful played for blood with this prick.

We actually would know nothing about Ieuan Dyfi if not for Gwerful Mechain, because it was her poetic response to him that meant his only surviving poems made it to the modern day; that, and the record of him being brought before a church court where he admitted adultery with Anni Goch, a married woman. Oh, and the record of him being brought before the law courts at Liverpool, accused of domestic abuse and gambling? If I remember right?

Two things to know that set the scene for what came next:

One of Gwerful Mechain's surviving poems is an englyn considered to be possibly the oldest extant poem about domestic violence written by a woman: I’w gŵr am ei churo (To the husband who beats her)

Dager drwy goler dy galon - ar osgo I asgwrn dy ddwyfron; Dy lin a dyr, dy law’n don, A’th gleddau i’th goluddion.

There are a lot of translations for this one to try to keep its poeticness, but this one is pretty good:

Through your heart’s lining let there be pressed, slanting down, A dagger to the bone in your chest. Your knee smashed, your hand crushed, may the rest Be gutted by the sword you possessed.

She has others, too, that deal with sexual assault, and something scholars often note about Gwerful is her remarkable knowledge of the law as it pertained to women's issues. So she was not, you see, a woman with a high view of a man accused of domestic violence anyway.

But then Ieuan Dyfi wrote five poems about Anni Goch, the married woman he'd fucked, each more "Wow dude, she said no" than the last, culminating in I Anni Goch; a full cywydd of misogynistic Medieval-incel bullshit about how false and evil women are, which listed all the false and evil women of history including classical and mythological figures.

And. Well. Gwerful had some views.

Her responding cywydd - I ateb Ieuan Dyfi am gywydd Anni Goch - basically blasted the guy back into his own impact crater and disintegrated him. What she did with it, essentially, was to mirror his cywydd. Where he'd gone "Isn't it so true how great men throughout history have always been brought low by women, amirite lads? Here's examples", Gwerful went "Isn't it so true how 'great men' throughout history have behaved appallingly and fucked up through their own actions and then somehow managed to blame women, amirite lads? Here's examples." Where his examples had been historical figures, so were hers. Where his had been classical, so were hers. Where he went Biblical, so did she.

And what's so interesting about that last one is how pointed she was with it - for some reason, in his big list of evil women, Ieuan Dyfi did not go for the most obvious and low-hanging of fruit (no pun intended) - he doesn't cite Eve. In response, Gwerful also sidesteps the most obvious and low hanging of fruit - she doesn't cite Mary. In so doing, she makes it clear that she doesn't even need to.

There is no record of him responding to her. IIRC, there is a record of him doing three years in prison.

But! Outside of all of that, the big thing Gwerful was known for was her erotic poetry. You'll be unsurprised to hear that it wasn't written for shits and giggles - much like today, women of the time were told that most of their value was in their looks, and they had plentiful insecurities about their bodies. Gwerful wrote her erotic stuff to confront those insecurities and shine a light on the issue. There are so many examples of this, but far and away the most famous is definitely Cywydd y Cedor - roughly translated, 'Ode to the Vulva'. Though I have also seen it titled Cywydd y Gont - Ode to the Cunt. It's such a shame that the English language is literally, physically not capable of cynghanedd, because it means unless you learn Welsh you will never understand the beauty and the lyricism of the piece, and how it elevates and undercuts the content at the same time; but it's a joyful, masterful, irreverent work that uses the fancy language male poets were forever dedicating to the rest of a woman's body and applies it squarely to the vulva. In fact it basically opens with "Men are cowards, describe more cunts or gtfo" before launching into its main subject matter. The last line is pro-pubic hair, too, like I really must stress how much Gwerful Mechain would have to offer Tumblr if you could speak Welsh. This is probably her most widely translated piece, though, you can definitely find English versions. Although you can tell how blushing and reticent the translator is - and therefore how sanitised their translation is - by whether they've called it Ode to the Vulva/Cunt, or Ode to the Pubic Hair.

Needless to say, the original is not sanitised.

(Actually, I should also say - this one is also a response piece, probably, but in this case to a bard who lived a century earlier - Dafydd ap Gwilym, the absolutely legendary and uncontested king of Welsh romance poetry. He wrote a poem called Cywydd y Gal - Ode to the Penis. I have only just put two and two together on that.)

As a final note, I should say that my personal favourite Gwerful Mechain poem on this subject, mind, is actually I'w morwyn wrth gachu - to the maiden who is shitting. It's an englyn written in Gwerful's customary high poetic form, but it is what it says - it describes a woman taking a shit, and farting as she does. Beautiful and magical and disgusting and banal, all in one go:

Crwciodd lle dihangodd ei dŵr - ’n grychiast O grochan ei llawdwr; Ei deudwll oedd yn dadwr’, Baw a ddaeth, a bwa o ddŵr

Funnily enough, it's hard to find a good translation for this one lol.

My attempt:

She crouched where her water escaped - creased From the cauldron of her heat; Her two holes were arguing, Shit came, and a bow of water

Eh. It's so bland in English. Honestly, if you could read Welsh...

Anyway, if anyone reading this can read Welsh and wants to read some of Gwerful Mechain's stuff - including some of the pieces she was responding to in the ymrysonau - you can find a load here. Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed!

[matildazq]

Write the Year 2023—Week 29: Multiplicity

I lost my mind this week; on Tuesday, I took a bunch of pictures (just on my phone) while out on a Danger Beagle walk. I had intended to just do, like an Instagram post or something and call it “Texture Tuesday” or some other nonsense. I never did, so instead, I guess I wrote 12 short poems? The form and a link to it follow each poem below. Title: LashesWC: 14 Lashesdowncast, demure.Idle, they…

[gawrkin]

On making a Welsh version of the entire story of King Arthur:

No Lancelot and No Affair. PERIOD. And absolutely no compromise or cheating on this one: you cannot turn anyone else (coughBediverecough) into a Lancelot analogue. You must sacrifice the Love Triangle completely - no "duty vs. love" drama. You're going to have make do without that conceit. You must exercise your own creativity and forge a different dramatic conflict for Arthur and Gwenhwyfar, if at all.

Supplementary to the above: Divorce is legal.

Arthur is at the forefront. Sometimes, Cai, Gwalchmai and Bedwyr is the focus of a particular adventure, but Arthur is a Man of Action, who often outdoes his own warriors. And in particular, he may not even be a King - he may even just be a military chief (Wleddig, Ameraudur or Dux Bellorum), freeing him up to rove around.

Giants, not fairies, as the primary supernatural race Camelot interacts with. Next to that, Saints and Deities come afterwards.

On the legal side: Celtic Law is Tort Law - a weregild system is at play, known as Saraad (Insult/Honor Price) and Galanas (Injury/Homicide Price). Livestock as a measure of wealth. Inheritance system is Gavelkind (although tribal politics may come into play. See Tanistry).

Emphasis on Poetry, Song and Poetic Speech. Englyns are recommended. Bards as serious authority figures.

Be liberal with the supernatural. Mystical items are always fought over and Knights have cyneddf, or mystical abilities.

The Grail Quest has to be whole sale rewritten and given a new mythos: it's either "The Raid on the Otherworld" where the story is about the capture of a mystical Cauldron (Preiddu Annwfn). AND/OR. It's the Peredur version of Perceval, involving a Severed Head instead of a Grail - Maybe its Bran the Blessed himself! - and possibly a battle with the "Nine Sorceresses"

Exceptions to the "No Affair" rule: Medraut and Melwas. The former requires commitment to Traitor!Guinevere and the latter ends with Arthur winning and taking back Guinevere, whether Melwas lives or not.

The Fall of Camelot - There 3 options for how it should unfold without Lancelot: a) defaulting towards Historia Regum Britanniae's version of events. b) the Gwenhwyfach feud. And c) Non-Traitor Medraut ending. The first, similar to the No Affair exception, requires commitment to Traitor!Guinevere. The second involves establishing Gwenhwyfach as a character in her own right. The third and last is the most difficult: the writer must concieve a sufficiently satisfying third party as an opponent for Arthur and Mordred for a tragic last stand.

No Incest. Medraut remains Arthur's Nephew.

No Villain!Morgan

Optional for the above: Iddog Cordd Prydain as an instigator for the hostilities between Arthur and Medraut

As an extention of the "No Lancelot" rule, No Lady of the Lake and No Galahad either.

Arthur assumes the throne through normal means - No Sword in the Stone or Sword from the Lake. Kings Lot and Urien are allies all they way. Excalibur/Caledfwlch is part of a set of Three Holy Weapons, the others being Rhongomyniad and Carnwennan.

Exceptions to the "No Affair" rule: Edern ap Nudd as Guinevere's lover. Highly unrecommended, either for potentially establishing a Love triangle (defeating the whole purpose of removing Lancelot) and for potentially resulting in Arthur's early, non-Camlann death.

Trystan and Essyllt potentially do not end in tragedy (Total omission of Brittany, Isolde White Hands and the Black Sails motif) (Writer's choice). Although Mark could still treacherously kill them both, ala Prose Tristan.

King Mark as potentially Conomor the Cursed.

[gingersnaptaff]

(Okay, so I know I said I was gonna do marriage laws and queenship stuff in regards to welsh laws - and I will! - but here is a nice, quick round-up about BARDS

*SHREDS ON A HARP*

Okay, so this is inspired by @gawrkin 's recent posts on bards because the laws surrounding them are SUPER FUN. And Wales LOVES LOVES LOVES their bards. (Myself included.)

Right, so, without further ado, ONWARDS.

*shreds harp aggressively again*

So the 'spurious triads' the author is referring to are presumably to do with IOLO MORGANNWG *ominous thunderclap*.

I shan't go too much into him as suffice to say, we gotta keep this shit SHORT, but he was a massive forger from Glamorgan (that's what Morgannwg means. It's his bardic name. Iolo is Edward.) who made up a bunch of triads and Celtic / medieval manuscripts including some of the Welsh Triads. Also, he is the reason why the Eisteddfod has the Gorsedd of bards.

So a mixed bag, y'know.

ANYWAY. They're very high-rank on account of being the literally Yellow Pages of Celtic and medieval Welsh societies. If you had a question that needed answering you'd ask a bard. They were like Google. They would know a man's lineage (and Welsh lineages are confusing. There were men named Dafydd ap Dafydd ap Dafydd ap Dafydd. No, I'm not joking.) battles, monarchs, myths, songs, stories. Anything.

And they had to SING. And play an instrument. Namely either a harp or a crwth.

This baby is crwth! It's a little like a violin but much darker in tone. They were extinct for a while but they've undergone a revival and they are FUN!

Also, the court bard had to SING to the queen about Camlann 'in a low voice.' I've heard various reasons suggested as to why and one of them is to remind her that Gwenhwyfar's infidelity was the main reason for King Arthur's downfall, but I think it's probably because of The Slap. Idk though. I'm just guessing, buddies.

Still, it's cool that the queen got a special sing-song.

Also, the bard being 'invested with a chess board' suggests to me that the game of Gwyddbwyll that Arthur and Owain play in the Mabinogion signals that they're bards. Gwyddbwyll being the type of chess the bards would've been familiar with. Plus, we know Arthur is somewhat of an amateur bard (Culhwch and Olwen being the prime example where he sings his terrible englyn about Cai to his face. Arthur, ur a fuckin BASTARD.) so it's in keeping with his character.

Also, I think it's adorable that the harp 'always descended to the youngest son.'

If you want a story that deals with bards and their privileged position in Welsh society and also wants ur heart RIPPED OUT may I suggest 'The Assembly of the Severed Head' by Hugh Lupton. It deals with a bard in a monastery after he's almost perished in a raid and the monks writing out the Mabinogion so they can give it to Llywelyn Fawr. It deals with war, love, loss, and also stonking good historical context. Also lots of poetry!!!!

Final fact: bards in Wales weren't wiped out by Edward the First. That's a fuckin myth. Don't come round here with ur fuckin myths. Old Longshanks has done enough already. May he eat shit.

(Also, Taliesin gets all the good rep but what about my boy Aneirin?)

Okay, BYEEEEE!!!!

P.S.: have an Eisteddfod chair!

[midwestbramble]

The Book of Celtic Magic Book Review

When I first started on my journey, I was interested in Celtic paganism and witchcraft (after my stint with Wicca). This book is a hold over from that time.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Content:

Synopsis

What I liked

What I Didn't Like

Overall Thoughts

Conclusion

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Published 2014

"Delve into the depths of a magical current that spans over two thousand years. The Book of Celtic Magic provides the unsurpassed power of practical magic and the transformative forces of ancient Celtica.

Druid priest Kristoffer Hughes invites you to explore the pantheon, myths, and magic of his native Wales. Discover the magical allies, the gods and goddesses, and the spirits of place that form the foundation of this vibrant tradition. Practice rituals that draw you closer to the divine energy of the trees, plants, and animals that surround you. Work with spells, conjurations, invocations, and magical tools that have been developed and refined from genuine Celtic sources. Complete with exercises and a glossary of terms, this step-by-step guide is a definitive source of authentic Celtic magic."

-from the back of the book

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

What I Liked

The book starts of with defining a few words such as englyn/englynion, as well as what the author means by "Celtic magic." A big section is set aside for Awen specifically and it's symbol, the three rays of light. Each ray is also given a meaning with definition and an exercise to connect with that idea. Right from the beginning we get exercises to help us put into practice what we are learning in the chapter. I highly encourage anyone reading this book to do the exercises as you're going through. Some of them I was drawn to more than others but they are all profound.

Most of this book is talking about magical allies, whether that be deities and demigods or plants and animals. Very specifically there is a chapter focused on introducing the concept as well as making sure the reader understands what their functions are. The more popular Welsh deities are each given a chapter where they are the focus (or if they are often paired with others then the couple (or triple) are focused on). The first is Madron and Mabon, which I felt was apt seeing as many people only know Mabon as a holiday on the Wiccan wheel of the year instead of an actual deity (which has nothing to do with the autumn equinox). You're given a run down of each with historical and primary information, then an exercise to help you connect with the deity or connect with an idea associated with them.

When I first got the book, the part that I was most drawn to was the section an working with the genius loci, ancestors, and plants and animals. Though for me, the sections on genius loci and ancestors wasn't enough but may work for those who are more into Celtic paganism than I was (even when I was trying). There's a big section on trees and working with them in the Celtic tradition, with the ogham and Kat Godeu given a lot of attention. This is a great book for more information on Ogham and working with the trees within that system. Other plants are given their own section and the part I found the most interesting was Hughes' connecting certain plants with different points on "the Great Wheel of the Year." He also uses the Physicians of Myddvai to inspire different recipes for working with different plants. Lastly, the section on animals would be very good for those looking to work in the Celtic system. It ultimately did not work for me as I am not culturally Celtic, despite half my ancestors coming from Wales and Scotland. However, I do think this can work well for others.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

What I Didn't Like

The chapters on the deities are, admittedly, short for my taste. I wish there was more for me to have been able to jump off of instead of a quick dip of the toe. Hughes definitely appears knowledgeable and the book isn't small, so maybe there was a size limit. I just wanted more to go off of since I had already known most of the myths in this book. I did learn new things from it, just wanted more.

The end of the book has a chapter on what Hughes calls "the Forts of Truth" and that just confused me. It's a divination system that Hughes himself came up with based on island forts of Annwn in the Book of Taliesin poem "the Spoils of Annwn." I probably just didn't have enough background knowledge on Annwn itself when I read through it the first time, but it had my eyes spinning trying to make heads or tails.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Overall Thoughts

If you're interested in Welsh druidism or Welsh paganism, this is a good book to start, in my opinion. The author is (at least at the time of the publishing of this book) chief of the Anglesey Druid Order and a member of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD), so I feel like this would be a good resource. You may need to eventually go out and do your own research for a few key pieces of myth for certain deities, but otherwise this was a good read.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Conclusion

At one point I would sell some of my witchcraft and pagan books so I could make room on my shelf for more, but this one stayed because it does have good information that I want to reference now and then. Specifically for folklore. If you would like to read it yourself, it can be found on Amazon, the OBOD store, it's publisher Llewellyn, 13 Moons, and more.

[tigertrotter]

How do you know so many different styles of poems. I took AP English for most of highschool and these poem type names are only vaguely familiar. I hope others find you work too.

So, the reason why I know so many different types of poetic forms is all thanks to an article I found on the Writer's Digest website. The article, known as 168 Poetic Forms for Poets, gives off a list of poetic forms-both iconic and obscure-with short introduction descriptions included.

Apparently, this was the article where I learned many poetic forms that have become popular on my Archive of Our Own page, the Clogyrnach (a Welsh Poetic Form with an AABBBA Rhyme Scheme) being one of my favorites to do.

But on the other hand, I use that site to learn more poetic forms and look at examples. This is how I learned the Englyn Cyrch, the Haiku Sonnet, and the mysterious Magic Nine.

Anyways, I thank you for your question! I am planning to write for new poetic forms in the future such as the Italian Stornello and the French Huitain.

[quidam-sirenae]

I’m normal about arthuriana im normal about bedivere and Kay I’m normal about Mordreds name being written in the annales cambriae I’m normal about beaumains I’m normal about Kay trying to steal Arthur’s birthright I’m normal about ector im normal about preiddu annwfn and the rhyme scheme it has im normal about pa gur and the epithets in it im normal about missing pieces of a manuscript im normal about the englyn Arthur sings at Kay im normal about Gawain showing up early to his own death im normal about the kissing game im normal about the beheading game im normal about tor coming to Arthur’s court im normal about alliteration I actually am normal about Lancelot I know nothing about French Arthur a legend lmao

[tobacconist]

need a welsh bard to tell me how legit this is rn bc if it is i am truly floored

EDIT: i suspected the english translation here was a bad one (never trust translations of poetry that rhyme!)

its actually about the spider and is titled Englyn i’r Pryf-Copyn, heb un gytsain (a verse on the spider, without one consonant) and means something like:

From its fine egg it goes to weave—and its webs It weaves from its eggs It weaves its winter web And wefts of ice are its weavings!

and apparently fully grammatically correct!

[graywyvern]

( via / via )

"And I do love using the word influencer to talk about any of these heartless posturing cruelty-peddling alpha male half-melted douche-popsicles, because it genuinely seems to bother them to be lumped in with a job they all tend to associate purely with women they disdain, when people like Jordan Peterson and Andrew Tate and even Joe Rogan have never been any different from a girl in tight pants hawking essential oils and sad neutral home decor on Instagram."

"short shrift on the longbow"

clown-nose orange instead of red halcyon the spring but arid nothing new this risible dread stirring whirring like bat radar

Wolf.

"The atmosphere he had noticed on the upper levels was a clear odor now--sleepy, half-remembered, smiling, sad and quite strong. That is the way Time smells." R.A. Lafferty (via @djfrankelee)

Whispered into the Afternoon.

[cymdeithasceredigion]

YR EISTEDDFOD – TESTUNAU

Beirniad: y Prifardd Gwenallt Llwyd Ifan

Mae’r holl gystadlaethau yn agored i bawb

Gwobr Goffa Pat Neill: Cerdd neu gasgliad o gerddi caeth neu rydd (heb fod dros 40 o linellau): Gwres

Gwobr: Cadair Fechan a £50    

Englyn: Unrhyw gantor / cantores

Englyn Ysgafn: Parti

Telyneg: Cannwyll

Cywydd: Tiriogaeth (hyd at 18 o linellau)

Cân ysgafn: Yr ymadawiad

Triban: Yn cynnwys enw tref neu bentref yng Ngheredigion

Parodi: Parodi ar unrhyw gerdd Gymraeg ar y testun ‘Cystadlu’

Ysgrif neu Stori Fer: Agored

Erthygl ar gyfer papur bro: Agored

Cystadleuaeth Ail Iaith: Pennill ‘Croeso’

Llên Meicro i bobl dan 25 oed: Pum darn o lên meicro ‘Gobaith’

Gwobrau ar gyfer gystadlaethau 1-11: £10

Gwobrau eraill i’w cadw am flwyddyn:

Cadair Her am y darn barddoniaeth gorau (ac eithrio cystadleuaeth Pat Neill)

Cwpan Her Ben Owens am y darn rhyddiaith gorau.      Rhaid i bob ymgais unigol fod o dan ffugenw, gydag enw'r ymgeisydd ar wahân.  Derbynnir cynigion drwy’r post arferol neu drwy e-bost. Y cyfansoddiadau i law Gwenda Evans, Awelfor, Sarnau, Llandysul, Ceredigion SA44 6QS  01239 654552 gwendaevans257@btinternet.com erbyn y dyddiad cau, dydd Llun 17 Chwefror 2025

[howardswnynant]

YR EISTEDDFOD – TESTUNAU

Beirniad: y Prifardd Gwenallt Llwyd Ifan

Mae’r holl gystadlaethau yn agored i bawb

Gwobr Goffa Pat Neill: Cerdd neu gasgliad o gerddi caeth neu rydd (heb fod dros 40 o linellau): Gwres

Gwobr: Cadair Fechan a £50    

Englyn: Unrhyw gantor / cantores

Englyn Ysgafn: Parti

Telyneg: Cannwyll

Cywydd: Tiriogaeth (hyd at 18 o linellau)

Cân ysgafn: Yr ymadawiad

Triban: Yn cynnwys enw tref neu bentref yng Ngheredigion

Parodi: Parodi ar unrhyw gerdd Gymraeg ar y testun ‘Cystadlu’

Ysgrif neu Stori Fer: Agored

Erthygl ar gyfer papur bro: Agored

Cystadleuaeth Ail Iaith: Pennill ‘Croeso’

Llên Meicro i bobl dan 25 oed: Pum darn o lên meicro ‘Gobaith’

Gwobrau ar gyfer gystadlaethau 1-11: £10

Gwobrau eraill i’w cadw am flwyddyn:

Cadair Her am y darn barddoniaeth gorau (ac eithrio cystadleuaeth Pat Neill)

Cwpan Her Ben Owens am y darn rhyddiaith gorau.     

Rhaid i bob ymgais unigol fod o dan ffugenw, gydag enw'r ymgeisydd ar wahân.  Derbynnir cynigion drwy’r post arferol neu drwy e-bost. Y cyfansoddiadau i law Gwenda Evans, Awelfor, Sarnau, Llandysul, Ceredigion SA44 6QS  01239 654552 gwendaevans257@btinternet.com erbyn y dyddiad cau, dydd Llun 17 Chwefror 2025

[ofglories]

While he was doing just that they made wooden tweezers. When Cai knew for sure that he was asleep he dug a pit under his feet, the biggest in the world, and he struck him an almighty blow, and pressed him down in the pit until they had plucked out his beard completely with the wooden tweezers. And after that they killed him outright. And from there both went to Celli Wig in Cornwall, and with them a leash from the beard of Dillus Farfog, and Cai handed it to Arthur. And then Arthur sang this englyn: A leash was made by Cai From the beard of Dillus son of Efrai. Were he alive, he would kill you. And because of that Cai sulked, so that the warriors of this island could hardly make peace between Cai and Arthur. And yet neither Arthur's misfortune nor the killing of his men could induce Cai to have anything to do with him in his hour of need from then on.

Arthur truly is just an atrocious poet like holy shit. If I heard even a jokey poem that was that awful about me I'd be pissed too-

for the use made of the englyn, see also the Second and Fourth Branches of the Mabinogi. As a result of Arthur's satiricial verse, Cai takes offence and disappears from the story. Furthur englyion are furthur attributed to Arthur in other sources, while in the triads Arthur is acknowledge as one of the Three Frivolous (Amateur?) Bards of the Island of Britain.

Arthur Pendragon: canonically one of the worst poets in all of Britain.