EISTEDDFOD

( (Welsh: session), ) plural Eisteddfods, or Eisteddfodau, formal assembly of Welsh bards and minstrels that originated in the traditions of court bards of medieval times. The modern National Eisteddfod, revived in the 19th century and held each summer alternately in a site in North or South Wales, has been broadened to include awards for music, prose, drama, and art, but the chairing and investiture of the winning poet remains its high point. Earlier assemblies were competitions of musicians (especially harpists) and poets from which new musical, literary, and oratorical forms emerged. The assembly at Carmarthen (1451) is famous for establishing the arrangement of the strict metres of Welsh poetry in forms that are still authoritative. In the 17th century the custom fell into disuse, though poetry remained a popular art and a form of eisteddfod survived in informal gatherings of rhymesters who met to compose verses on impromptu subjects. In the 18th century, when local eisteddfods were revived, it was apparent that many ordinary farmers and workingmen were still sufficiently skilled in the complicated craftsmanship of bardic versification to win prizes. In the 19th century the eisteddfod exerted a dominant influence on Welsh poetry through its annual national assembly and a number of local competitions. Though it succeeded in preserving the bardic forms, the quality of eisteddfod poetry was normally mediocre and degenerated to its lowest level in the late 19th century. The subjects assigned for the competition were celebrations of Welsh history or the Welsh countryside, biblical subjects such as the Creation or the Resurrection, or abstract subjects, such as almsgiving. Such poetry was necessarily impersonal and resulted in lengthy, descriptive compositions in which form was the major concern and content and emotional depth were secondary. With World War I and the Depression, in which Wales was particularly hard hit, many Welsh poets turned to more personal and relevant poetry, and the eisteddfod became primarily a forum for a youthful poet to gain a hearing. See also awdl.