Encyclopaedia
HEN BENILLION (lit. ‘old stanzas’)
These short individual verses, sometimes forming a series of three or four, first appeared in 17th-century manuscripts, but probably existed as spoken or sung poetry long before they were transcribed. They are mostly anonymous, written by the folk for the folk, to be sung to the accompaniment of the harp at social gatherings. Simple and lyrical, they reflect the whole gamut of rural, pre-industrial Welsh life.
