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 coexistence of the erotic and the
religious was not entirely untypical of medieval literary
production in Wales; overall, indeed, one of the most important
characteristics of Gwerful's work is its position in the mainstream
of medieval Welsh poetry. Her themes and techniques do not mark 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, and jousting with them verbally
as their equal. At the same time, she often speaks with a female
voice, taking her peers to task for their male arrogance. 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.
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