Gwerful Mechain
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Gwerful Mechain, who lived in Mechain in Powys during the 1400s, is perhaps the most famous female Welsh-language poet. Little is known of her life. Her work, written in the traditional strict metres, is often a celebration of religion and sex, sometimes within the same poem. Probably the most famous part of her work today is her erotic poetry, especially Cywydd y Cedor ("Ode to the Pubic Hair"), a poem praising the vulva.
External links
- A short biography (http://www.webexcel.ndirect.co.uk/gwarnant/beirdd/cywyddwyr/gwerful.htm)
- Text of Cywydd y Cedor (http://wikisource.org/wiki/Cywydd_y_Cedor)
- English translation (http://www.webexcel.ndirect.co.uk/gwarnant/beirdd/cywyddwyr/gwerfulcedore.htm); another English translation (http://www.resurgencecymru.org/cedor.html)