Gwerful Mechain’s “Poem to the Vagina”

The Middle Ages were a lot bawdier than most people imagine. Although modern society finds a Christian-infused culture abrasively at odds with a robustly sexual one, such was not the case in Western Europe 500 years ago . . . Into this conversation, may I introduce the Welsh poetess Gwerful Mechain (c. 1460-1502) Centuries before American rapper Awkwafina wrote “My v@g,” Mechain had composed the more original “Cywydd y Cedor” or “Poem to the Vagina,” which takes men to task for “ignoring the best bit, silly sod . . . The place I live, the place I bless/ The Hidden quim beneath the dress . . . .” An earlier poem by the Welsh writer Dafydd ap Gwilym called “Cywydd y Gal” has lines extolling Dafydd’s own pecker: “You are longer than a big man’s thigh, a long night’s roaming, chisel of a hundred nights . . .” Mechain’s feminine counter is less boastful and aggressive. She describes her yoni with these lines: “A little seam, a curtain, on a niche bestowed/ Neat flaps in a place of meeting/ The sour grove, circle of greeting/ Superb forest, faultless gift to squeeze/ Fur for a fine pair of balls, tender frieze/ Dingle deeper than hand or ladle/ Hedge to hold a penis as large as you’re able/ A girl’s glade, it is full of love/ Lovely bush, you are blessed by God above.” Mechain’s poems – and the one featured here is only her most famous – have been recently translated and published by Katie Gramich.