Pennod 38 – Alis Wen

Alis Wen 

In this episode we discuss a remarkably interesting female poet –Alis ferch Gruffudd or ‘Alis Wen’, who composed poetry in the sixteenth century. Men were the professional poets in the period, but Alis learned the poetic art and composed a number of verses using one of the old strict metres, the englyn unodl union. It’s very likely that her father, Gruffudd ab Ieuan ap Llywelyn Fychan, was her bardic teacher, and we see that her unique relationship with her father is given attention in some of her poems. Here is a rare female poetic voice from the period which manifests a Welsh woman’s honest feelings about love, marriage and society’s expectations. Although Welsh society in the period was oppressively patriarchal, we see Alis protesting and expressing a desire to follow her own heart instead of submitting to those expectations. In addition to expressing her opinion and her feelings in a forthright manner, she also does that in a wonderfully witty way.