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{{Short description|Welsh poetic form}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Italic title}}
In [[Welsh language|Welsh]] poetry, an '''''awdl''''' ({{IPA|cy|ˈau̯dl̩|pron}}) is a long poem in strict metre (i.e. ''[[cynghanedd]]''). Originally, an ''awdl'' could be a relatively short poem unified by its use of a single end-rhyme (the word is related to ''odl'', "rhyme"), using [[cynghanedd]]; such early ''awdlau'' are associated with the [[Cynfeirdd]] such as [[Aneirin]] and [[Taliesin]] as found in collections such as the ''[[Book of Taliesin]]'', the ''[[Black Book of Carmarthen]]'', the ''[[Hendregadredd Manuscript]]'' or ''[[The Red Book of Hergest]]''. By the nineteenth century however it came to its modern definition as a long poem using at least two of the twenty-four recognised "official" strict forms  (without the single end-rhyme).

Each year at the [[National Eisteddfod]] the bardic chair is awarded for the ''awdl'' judged worthiest; this competition is the most famous and prestigious in the Eisteddfod, and perceived to be the most difficult.

==History==
''Awdlau'' in the early period are to be distinguished from [[englyn|''Englynion'']], which are short, three or four-line stanzas. Since the recorded beginnings, ''awdlau'' were highly ornamental, and the forms permitted became stricter and stricter until the high Middle Ages. The 11th –13th centuries saw the royal court poets (Poets of the Princes) develop the art to a remarkable level of skill and accomplishment. After the extinction of Welsh royalty with the death of [[Llywelyn ap Gruffudd]] in 1282, standardisation and codification of the rules of professional poetry led to recognition of 24 strict metres, each of which must use ''[[cynghanedd]]''. By this period, the ''englyn'' metres as well as the ''[[cywydd]]'' metres were included within the 24, and the term ''awdl'' ''simpliciter'' became used for any long poem composed in metres chosen from the permitted range, with end-rhyme staying constant within individual sections of the poem. Among those known to have used the form in the early 17th century was [[Dafydd Llwyd Mathau]] in 1611.

==Prestige==
Such poems are judged to be among the finest work a poet can aim to produce. Prizes are given at ''[[eisteddfod]]au'' for the best ''awdl'', the most lauded being that of chair at the [[National Eisteddfod of Wales]], held each year in August. While 19th-century ''awdlau'' could run to thousands of lines, it is unusual to find such extensive pieces these days; the National Eisteddfod limits competitors to a few hundred lines.

Perhaps the best known early ''awdl'' is an apocalyptic elegy by [[Gruffudd ab yr Ynad Coch]], marking the death in 1282 of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. Well known  20th-century examples include ''[[Ymadawiad Arthur]]'' by [[T. Gwynn Jones]], and ''Yr Arwr'', by [[Hedd Wyn]], which won the Eisteddfod chair in 1917 shortly after the death of its author in the [[First World War]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://cy.wikisource.org/wiki/Yr_Arwr |title=Yr Arwr - Wicidestun |website=cy.wikisource.org}}</ref>

==References==
<references />

{{Western medieval lyric forms}}

[[Category:Welsh poetry]]
[[Category:Welsh-language literature]]
[[Category:Medieval Welsh literature]]
[[Category:Eisteddfod]]
[[Category:Western medieval lyric forms]]


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