大象传媒

Writer and comedian Carys Eleri reignites a centuries old creative beef, exploring the hilarious, erotic and whip-smart poetry of Gwerful Mechain.

If you went to school in Wales or like a bit of medieval poetry, you鈥檝e probably heard of Dafydd ap Gwilym, who was regarded as one of the greatest Welsh bards of the Middle Ages but is probably best known for writing an Ode to the Penis. However, few know the name Gwerful Mechain, who just one century later penned a Poem to the Vagina. Carys Eleri wants to find out why.

Gwerful is the only female Welsh medieval poet whose work has survived - but until very recently her writing was suppressed by male scholars who disapproved of her enthusiastic tendency towards the indecent. Rude, risqu茅 and fiercely feminist, Gwerful's poetry cuts through even in the 21st century.

Katie Gramich, who recently published the first complete translation of Gwerful鈥檚 surviving works, tells Carys about Gwerful鈥檚 talent for "dyfalu" - concocting ingeniously bizarre metaphors - and her habit of writing incendiary rebuttals to her male contemporaries.

To find out why sparring inspires creativity, Carys talks to rapper Nadia Rose about growing up on the battle rap scene. Never one to bite her tongue and no stranger to a poetic beef, Nadia tells Carys how diss tracks have birthed some of the most creatively cutting lyrics in rap.

Carys first stumbled upon Gwerful when her friend, historian Sara Huws, posted an ASMR video of her reading Poem to the Vagina on Instagram. Carys and Sara chat about rediscovering and relating to Gwerful today.

Throughout the programme, the poetic battles of Gwerful and her contemporaries break out of the dusty archives and are brought to life with shockingly rude dramatic readings by Alexandria Riley and Geraint Rhys Edwards.