Cawn gyfle yn y bennod hon i ystyried dwy wedd ar yrfa lenyddol Marged Dafydd. Yn enedigol o’r Coetgae-du ym mhlwyf Trawsfynydd, cafodd fywyd hir a chysegrodd lawer iawn o’i hamser i ddiogelu ac astudio barddoniaeth Gymraeg. Creodd nifer o lawysgrifau swmpus sy’n dangos ôl meddwl ysgolheigiaidd, a diolch iddi hi mae rhai cerddi Cymraeg gan ferched eraill wedi goroesi.

Roedd hefyd yn fardd yn ei hawl ei hun. Gan fod tystiolaeth bod ei mam a’i modryb yn barddoni hefyd, gellid dweud ei bod yn perthyn i linach o feirdd benywaidd. Roedd hefyd yn perthyn i rwydweithiau ehangach o feirdd, ac roedd yn cael ei chydnabod fel cryn awdurdod ac fel athrawes farddol. Trafodwn rychwant o’i cherddi, gan gynnwys englyn hwyliog sy’n talu teyrnged i grythor a cherdd grefyddol ddwys sy’n dangos ei bod yn Gristion o argyhoeddiad ac yn realydd a allai grisialu hanfod y natur ddynol.

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Marged Dafydd (c.1700-c.1785)

In this episode we consider two aspects of Marged Dafydd’s literary career. From Y Coetgae-du, Trawsfynydd, she lived a long life and devoted a great amount of her time to preserving and studying Welsh poetry. She created a number of substantial manuscripts which display the workings of a scholarly mind, and it is thanks to her that some Welsh poems by women have survived.

She was also a poet in her in own right. As there is evidence that her mother and her aunt composed verse as well, one could say that she belonged to a lineage of female poets. Marged Dafydd also took part in wider networks of poets, and she was recognized as somewhat of an authority and as a bardic teacher. We discuss a range of her poems, included a lively englyn to a crowther and a serious religious poem which shows that she was a Christian of conviction and a realist when it came to crystalizing the essence of human nature.

Cyflwynwyd gan: Yr Athro Jerry Hunter a'r Athro Richard Wyn Jones

Cynhyrchwyd gan: Richard Martin i Cwmni Mimosa Cymru

Cerddoriaeth: 'Might Have Done' gan The Molenes

Darllen Pellach/Further Reading:

- Cathryn Charnell-White (gol), Beirdd Ceridwen: Blodeugerdd Barddas o Ganu Menywod hyd tua 1800 (2005).

- Katie Gramich a Catherine Brennan (goln.), Welsh Women’s Poetry 1460-2001 (2003).