Bardic poetry refers to an oral tradition of verse
composition and performance largely associated
with the Celtic cultures of Anglo-Saxon England,
Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. The forms of bardic
poetry followed precise metrical and alliterative
patterns since the word-music, made from the
sounds of the language itself, was considered as
important as the music of the accompanying instrument.
To meet the demands of a strict meter,
bards drew on a repertoire of stock phrases and
metaphors, and when necessary they used adjectives
or kennings to fill out a line. A kenning is typically
a compound descriptor using an innovative
image or metaphor to convey the qualities of a person
or thing. For instance, a person might be called
“strong arm,” “steady glance,” or “bright cheek.”
Unfortunately for modern listeners, not only does
little of the bards’ music survive, but the wordmusic
itself is often lost in translation.
Documentation on early bards is scarce and obscure.
The bulk of the early lyrics remain anonymous,
and some authorial attributions are
apocryphal.Manuscript fragments attempt to capture
works that could have been composed centuries
before. Part of the literary style was to use
intentional archaisms to make the language sound
older and therefore superior.Most bards were rigorously
educated, well-respected members of the
aristocratic classes who could boast of a long poetic
heritage. Some traveled, performing their
works, while others had patrons. Celtic culture accorded
great esteem to bards, and noble Celtic
families, who attached great importance to having
honor of “face,” often feared to provoke a poet to
slander.Women could be bards as well as men, and
several surviving Irish lyric love poems are attributed
to female authors.
Since it was composed and sung in the vernacular
or native language,much bardic poetry retains
a flavor of the Celtic culture prior to Christianity,
which brought literacy in the form of Latin. The
forms and subject matter of bardic poetry can
often be traced to pre-Christian influences. In addition
to nature poems, devotional lyrics, and encomiums
of praise or protest directed at rulers, the
bards preserved their culture’s native history in
saga or chronicle poems populated with gods, heroes,
and other mythical creatures. Anglo-Saxon
bards were as revered as warriors, since their ability
to describe a warrior’s feats after his death, thus
elevating him to hero status, was often the only
consolation a warrior had to achieve enduring
fame. Such an achievement was based in the concept
of the heroic ideal: Kings and their retainers
sought perfection in battle, honor, and chivalry.
This heroic ideal is aptly portrayed in the Old English
EPIC poem Beowulf.
Much of Irish bardic poetry features the legendary
figures Finn MacCool; Cuchulain; Cano,
the Irish version of Tristan (see TRISTAN AND ISEULT);
and Ois¯in, remembered in the Ossianic or Fenian
cycles.Welsh poets often sang of Arthur and his
warriors.
Anglo-Saxon and Irish bardic poetry spans the
Old, Middle, and Early Modern English periods;
Old Irish turns into Middle Irish around the 12th
century, whereupon the tradition changes from a
mainly oral legacy to a documented practice of literary
composition maintained by clerics and court
poets. The early Irish tradition distinguished between
a bard who sang and played the poems and
a file who composed the poetry and functioned as
a historian, genealogist, seer, and social satirist as
well as an artisan. Fili (the plural of file) trained at
bardic schools. In its earliest uses the word suggests
someone who is a master poet and also initiated in
spiritual practices such as divination. This may reflect
the status and service held by the druids, who
were, for the pre-Christian Celts, poets, prophets,
lawmakers, guardians of traditional knowledge,
and practitioners of the occult.
Many fili liked to preserve a sense of mystery
around their work and perpetuated the romantic
myth that the best poets created under very special
circumstances, specifically in a dark room,
lying down, with no outside noise or distractions.
Thereafter, the bard would offer a recitation and
musical performance. Though at one point bards
received about half the pay that a file did, later the
terms bard and file became interchangeable. Some
of the best-remembered Irish bards are Donnchadh
Mór, Gofraidh Fionn, Eochaidh Ó hEoghusa, Fear
Flatha, Fearghal Óg, and Tadhg Mac Dáire.
Though the Irish and Welsh embraced Christianity
well before the Anglo-Saxons did, early
Welsh poetry escapes Latin influence. The sixthcentury
Welsh bards are themselves figures of legend:
Taliesin; Llywarch Hen; and Anerin, who is
credited with the battle poem “Gododdin,” the earliest
reference to King Arthur.Manuscripts of their
works date to the 12th century. Other Welsh bards
from the 12th and 13th centuries are Meilyr; his
son Gwalchmai; Owain prince of Powys; Owain’s
court bard Cynddlew; and the greatest of the medieval
Welsh bards, Dafydd ap Gwilym
(1340–1400), who lived at the same time as the
English poet Geoffrey Chaucer.
See also MYTHOLOGY, CELTIC; ORAL LITERATURE/
TRADITION.
English Versions of Bardic Poetry
Gurney, Robert, ed. Bardic Heritage: A Selection of
Welsh Poetry in Free English Translation. London:
Chatto & Windus, 1969.
Medieval Irish Lyrics. Translated by James Carney.
Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1999.
Works about Bardic Poetry
Lofmark, Carl. Bards and Heroes: An Introduction to
Bardic Poetry. Cribyn,Wales: Llanerch Press, 1989.
Matthews, John, ed. The Bardic Source Book: Inspirational
Legacy and Teachings of the Ancient Celts.
Poole, Dorset, U.K.: Blandford Press, 1999.