The digital home of Welsh culture.
The digital home of Welsh culture.
The digital home of Welsh culture.
The digital home of Welsh culture.
A Poet in Two Worlds: Richard Hughes of Cefnllanfair
As we record our 50th episode, we celebrate the milestone by discussing one of the most interesting poets of the early modern period, Richard Hughes of Cefnllanfair in Llŷn.
We note that he was one of several Welsh poets who spent a great deal of time in London in the age of Elizabeth I. Richard Hughes was a footman who served the queen herself, but in addition to spending time in the court in London he also visited his old home frequently, as his poetry demonstrates.
Indeed, his work is wonderfully varied, including poetry in both free and strict metres and, as far as themes are concenred, including: courtly love poetry and poems which treat sex in an extremely bawdy manner; poems about life in London and ones about Pen Llŷn (including a lively englyn to the Bardsey Island boat); poems which pay tribute to individuals and ones which satirize other people. And, yes, discussing the poetry of Richard Hughes enabled Richard Wyn Jones to learn an old Welsh word for toilet – cachdy (shit-house)!
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