Just found the English word - doggerel - and another English reference:
http://www.academi.org/encyclopaedia/i/130655/
Rhian
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rhian Williams" <rhian.williams3(a)tinyworld.co.uk>
To: <powys(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 9:49 PM
Subject: Re: [POWYS] "Coker Poet"
I don't know if there is any link but there is a term in Welsh 'bardd
cocos'. Literally this means a cockle poet (ie the sea creature / shell) but
its proper meaning is quite specific, except I don't know the English term
for it. It is more a versifier than a poet, maybe a rhymster if there is
such a word, someone who could compose a verse fairly quickly with quite
basic rhyming patterns, and some of them rather dodgy in poetic terms,
forcing words to rhyme and skewing the metre. There is a Scottish 'poet'
(was his name McGonnagall?) who fits the same description.
There was a character known as Y Bardd Cocos, and I wasn't sure if this kind
of poet was named after him or whether he epitomised the kind of poet but
according to an entry about him on the Welsh Wikipedia:
http://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Evans_(Y_Bardd_Cocos)
he was the originator of the name, collecting cockles being his livelihood,
though others then started 'competing' with him for the title. If you google
Bardd Cocos you will find quite a few references including this one in
English:
http://yba.llgc.org.uk/en/s-EVAN-COC-1827.html
which I think is much harsher judgement than most about him. As you can see
from the number of google entries, he has sparked the Welsh imagination.
I can just imagine someone talking in Welsh about bardd cocos and thinking
how to say it to someone who didn't speak Welsh and venturing on Coker Poet!
Rhian
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tomi Larson" <tomil23(a)hotmail.com>
To: <powys(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 2:22 PM
Subject: [POWYS] "Coker Poet"
Hello,
In an obituary I just found, my ggg grandfather, Evan Nokes, was called the
'Coker Poet':
The ‘Coker Poet’
Evan Nokes, the venerable citizen of Gaysport whose death is announced in
our Holidaysburg letter, was in many respects a remarkable man. He had no
education, but possessed great natural ability and was a maker of verse of
no mean order. It was always his habit to recite his rhymes to some friend
and many a ballad has the writer taken down from his lips. Some of them were
published in various newspapers, but the great majority of them never saw
the light of day.....
I am curious about this term, 'Coker Poet'. Is it a term used in Wales for
miners who made rhymes, poems or is it just something his friends made up?
Any ideas on this?
Regards,
Tomi
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