Okay, are you braced for impact? Sure? No? Great, because here comes Gwerful Mechain (around 1460-1502), one of the most celebrated medieval Welsh women poets, and in fact the only medieval Welsh woman poet with a substantial surviving body of work. She is an unusual figure because she was a lively participant in the elite male-dominated poetic performance coterie of her day, engaging in bardic rivalries with her male counterparts, and speaking wittily and wickedly back to their central themes, especially with regards to male poetic treatment of sex and the female body.
As a for instance, her most famous – at least most publicly available – poem is an absolute banger called 'Cywydd y Cedor' or 'Ode/ Song to the Vagina/ Vulva'. This poem is a riotous proto-feminist riff on Dafydd ap Gwilym's 'Poem of the Penis'. In 'Cywydd y Cedor' Mechain takes aim at the convention of male poets exorbitantly praising every part of a woman’s body – aside from her genitalia. The poem is great, not just for its combative swagger, but because it absolutely masters the metrical traditions of Welsh poetry to stage a bravura performance of challenge right in the middle of male-centred tradition. It's also very, very funny. Here's a couple of excerpts from my favourite translation by Katie Gramich.
Song of the Vagina
Every poet, drunken fool
Thinks he’s just the king of cool,
(Every one is such a boor,
He makes me sick, I’m so demure),
He always declaims fruitless praise
Of all the girls in his male gaze.
He’s at it all day long, by God,
Omitting the best bit, silly sod:
[…]
The warm bright quim he does not sing,
That tender, plump, pulsating broken ring,
That’s the place I love, the place I bless,
The hidden quim below the dress.
You female body, you’re strong and fair,
A faultless, fleshy court plumed with hair.
I proclaim that the quim is fine,
Circle of broad-edged lips divine,
It’s a valley, longer than a spoon or hand,
A cwm to hold a penis strong and grand;
A vagina there by the swelling bum,
Two lines of red to song must come.
And the churchmen all, the radiant saints,
When they get the chance, have no restraints,
They never fail their chance to steal,
By Saint Beuno, to give it a good feel.
So I hope you feel well and truly told off
All you proud male poets, you dare not scoff,
Let songs to the quim grow and thrive
Find their due reward and survive
I think I love Gwerful because she is one of the first medieval poets I came across writing about sex in a frank, unsentimental idiom. It was something really unexpected and exciting for me. I think with minor changes to the translation this could be a stellar punk song. It's both a celebration and a calling-out of hypocrisy. The “radiant saints” copping a feel. Mic drop, Gwerful. Mic drop.
Fran Lock, 2024
Essential Information
Fran Lock 'Hyena Jackal Dog' is here
And as a critical part of the Culture Matters group, here
Uncommon Measures was devised by Duncan Jones
1. Larry Eigner / Duncan Jones
2. Isaac the Syrian / David Benjamin Blower
3. Gwerful Mechain / Fran Lock
