It would be easy to think that medieval Welsh praise poetry was little more than flattery. The Welsh bards of this period found it necessary to placate the military elite who were at that time their patrons. But they had a greater political influence beyond simple flattery. They were very much aware of the psychology of the elite society they served, and in many cases defined themselves almost as equals to their soldier counterparts. As well as being master-craftsmen of word play and vocal effect, it is very likely they were also skilled performers who enacted public rituals. At these public occasions, they not only celebrated the heroic ethos of their culture by evoking the names of mythical figures - famous ancestors, sons of prophecy and ancient heroes, but also attempted to condition their warrior kinsmen to that ethos.

If we take the Poets of the Princes as an example, the sparse and compact style of their verse leaves little room for much linear narrative or the development of prose-like sense. Instead, meaning is achieved in an accumulative fashion, conjuring images in a non-linear flow with rhymed and alliterated words. This, coupled with the rhythmic pulse of the complex meters they employed, gives an almost ecstatic edge to their compositions. Much of this poetry draws heavily on native legend and lore, and opens onto an endless mythical landscape populated by warriors, sorcerers and ancestors. Even though they considered the Christian God as the source of their inspiration, and dedicated thousands of lines to his praise, many of the mythic characters they evoked bare the markings of the old gods of pre-Christian Britain. They attempted not so much to express some intellectual theme or metaphor, but more to give presence to the archetypal persona of their native culture.

The chief figure of this mythical realm is of course the bard himself. He may not have dominion in the harsh world of feudalism, but he most certainly has power over the realm of the imagination. This ancient prototype of the wise old man, the poet-prophet or eloquent seer, is seen through out all the major periods of the Welsh tradition through the Hengerdd, the poets of the Welsh Princes, the medieval cywydd poets, and even, to an extent, into our own day. In many ways, the mythic aspects of the medieval bard’s official persona was, of course, his greatest asset. His praise is merely a channel by which he conditions his patron to the ethical realities of their shared heroic mythology.