Thank you Rhian for your reply.
The area of Pennsylvania where Evan settled was swarming with Welsh immigrants, so it is
likely some of them knew of the term 'bardd cocos' when they gave him this
nickname of 'coker poet'. His obituary continues to say, "He was very proud
of his well-deserved reputation as a maker of coke and never took kindly to the new
fangeld methods which are now in vogue."
Regards,
Tomi
Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 21:49:19 +0100
From: "Rhian Williams"
Subject: Re: [POWYS] "Coker Poet"
To:
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="Windows-1252";
reply-type=original
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"
To:
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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