The Bard’s Chair
Welsh creativity is unusually disciplined, for since the earliest times the Welsh artistic tradition has been governed by codes and conventions – perhaps since the Druids, relying as they did entirely upon their memories, drew up rules of composition to make it easier for themselves.
In the Wales of the Independence the Bards and Harpers were institutionalised, with their own allotted places in society, their established functions to perform. They regarded poetry and music as professions, for the practice of which one must qualify, like a lawyer or a doctor.
There were agreed measurements of value for a work of art, and the subjects of poetry were formalized, consisting at least until the fourteenth century mainly of eulogies and elegies. Musicians were restricted by intricate rules of composition. Poets were governed by the Twenty-Four Strict Metres of the classical Welsh tradition. Among the Cymry Cymraeg the Metres still prevail.”
–Jan Morris (1984), The Matter of Wales: Epic Views of a Small Country, Oxford University Press.
In Welsh culture, an eisteddfod is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term eisteddfod, which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: eistedd, meaning ‘sit’, and fod, meaning ‘be’, means, according to Welsh historian and academic Hywel Teifi Edwards, “sitting-together.” In his book, The Eisteddfod, Edwards further defines the earliest form of the eisteddfod as a competitive meeting between bards and minstrels, in which the winner was chosen by a noble or royal patron. Learn More
The Chairing of the Bard (Cadeirio’r Bardd) is one of the most important events in the Welsh eisteddfod tradition. The poet who has written the best awdl, or poem in strict meter, based on a title chosen by the judges is awarded the bardic chair - literally.
Here, we use the term to describe the area of our website dedicated to poems, prayers, and songs of import to our members and to our society.
Gorsedd Prayer
Ag yn nawdd, nerth;
Ag yn nerth, Deall;
Ag yn Neall, Gwybod;
Ac yngwybod, gwybod y cyfiawn;
Ag yngwybod yn cyfiawn, ei garu;
Ag o garu, caru pob hanfod;
Ag ymhob Hanfod, caru Duw.
Duw a phob Daioni.
~~~
Grant, O God, thy protection;
And in protection, strength;
And in strength, understanding;
And in understanding, knowledge;
And in knowledge, the knowledge of justice;
And in the knowledge of justice, the love of it;
And in that love, the love of all existences;
And in the love of all existences, the love of God;
God and all goodness.
Breath of Summer
who breathed this world into being,
who is discernible within
the harmony of nature,
the perfection of a butterfly's wing,
the grandeur of a mountain range,
the soaring eagle and humming bird,
thank you for this world
which you have created.
Thank you for summer sun,
which reminds us
that your creative breath
is still alive and active.
Thank you for the warmth of your love,
sustaining this world,
your garden.
Christian prayer
Watchman, Tell Us of the Night
What its signs of promise are.
Trav’ler! O’er yon mountain’s height
See that glory beaming star!
Watchman, does its beauteous ray
Aught of hope or joy foretell?
Trav’ler! Yes; it brings the day,
Promis’d day of Israel.
Watchman! Tell us of the night,
Higher yet that star ascends.
Trav’ler! Blessedness and light,
Peace and truth its course portends.
Watchman, will its beams alone
Gild the spot that gave them birth?
Trav’ler! Ages are its own;
See! It bursts o’er all the earth!
Watchman! Tell us of the night,
For the morning seems to dawn.
Trav’ler! Darkness takes its flight,
Doubt and terror are withdrawn!
Watchman! Let your wand’ring cease,
Go now to your quiet home.
Trav’ler! Lo, the Prince of Peace,
Lo, the Son of God has come!
John Bowring, 1825