You can mark you interesting snippets of text that will be available through a unique link in your browser.


Welsh literary renaissance

Welsh literary renaissance
Literary activity in Wales and England in the mid-18th century that attempted to stimulate interest in the Welsh language and in the classical bardic verse forms of Wales.

It was centred on the Morris family of Welsh scholars, who preserved ancient texts and encouraged contemporary poets to use the strict metres of the ancient Welsh bards. The movement gave rise to many publications and helped reestablish local eisteddfods and, in the early 19th century, the National Eisteddfod. A second revival began with the establishment of the University of Wales at the end of the 19th century.

* * *

      literary activity centring in Wales and England in the mid-18th century that attempted to stimulate interest in the Welsh language and in the classical bardic verse forms of Wales. The movement centred on Lewis, Richard, and William Morris, Welsh scholars who preserved ancient texts and encouraged contemporary poets to use strict metres of the ancient Welsh bards such as the cywydd and awdl. Other scholars also collected and copied bardic manuscripts, laying the groundwork for later scholarly research. A new classical school of poetry was led by Goronwy Owen, a poet who wrote verse modeled after the bards of the Middle Ages. The Cymmrodorion Society, established by the Welsh community in London as a centre for Welsh literary studies, combined with other such scholarly groups (e.g., the Gwyneddigion and Cymreigyddion societies) to encourage the reestablishment of local eisteddfods (poetic assemblies or contests). As a result, the National Eisteddfod was revived in the early 19th century.

      A great number of publications, popular as well as scholarly, were a product of the revival, which also produced religious verse in free metres, lyrical hymns, popular ballads employing cynghanedd (a complex system of accentuation, alliteration, and internal rhyme), and verse dramas based on historical tales, incidents from the Bible, and Welsh mythology and legend.

      By the 19th century the arts in Wales had become almost totally dominated by England, and the revival subsided. A second revival, based on the scholarly groundwork of the first, occurred at the end of the 19th century, centred in the newly established University of Wales. Careful scholarship was applied to the study of ancient texts. Some poets, stimulated by the renaissance, wrote experimental verse that reflects an awareness of the past (especially in the use of cynghanedd) and a solicitude for the survival of the Welsh language.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

  
Share  

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Welsh literature — The term Welsh literature may be used to refer to any literature originating from Wales or by Welsh writers. However, it more often refers to literature written in the Welsh language. Literature by Welsh language writers in the English language… …   Wikipedia

  • Welsh literature —       body of writings in the Welsh language with a rich and unbroken history stretching from the 6th century to the present.       A brief treatment of Welsh literature follows. For full treatment, see Celtic literature: Welsh (Celtic… …   Universalium

  • Medieval Welsh literature — History of Literature Bronze Age literature Sumerian Egyptian Akkadian Classical literatures …   Wikipedia

  • Canons of Renaissance poetry — This article is about changing canons of Renaissance English poetry (i.e. in the 16th and early 17th century). While the canon has always been in some form of flux, it is only towards the late 20th century that concerted efforts were made to… …   Wikipedia

  • Celtic literature — Introduction       the body of writings composed in Gaelic and the languages derived from it, Scottish Gaelic and Manx, and in Welsh and its sister languages, Breton and Cornish. For writings in English by Irish, Scottish, and Welsh authors, see… …   Universalium

  • literature — /lit euhr euh cheuhr, choor , li treuh /, n. 1. writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays. 2.… …   Universalium

  • performing arts — arts or skills that require public performance, as acting, singing, or dancing. [1945 50] * * * ▪ 2009 Introduction Music Classical.       The last vestiges of the Cold War seemed to thaw for a moment on Feb. 26, 2008, when the unfamiliar strains …   Universalium

  • English literature — Introduction       the body of written works produced in the English language by inhabitants of the British Isles (including Ireland) from the 7th century to the present day. The major literatures written in English outside the British Isles are… …   Universalium

  • United Kingdom — a kingdom in NW Europe, consisting of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: formerly comprising Great Britain and Ireland 1801 1922. 58,610,182; 94,242 sq. mi. (244,100 sq. km). Cap.: London. Abbr.: U.K. Official name, United Kingdom of Great… …   Universalium

  • Wales — /waylz/, n. a division of the United Kingdom, in SW Great Britain. 2,766,800; 8016 sq. mi. (20,760 sq. km). Medieval, Cambria. * * * I Welsh Cymru Principality, constituting an integral part of the United Kingdom. It occupies a peninsula on the… …   Universalium