All entries for Friday 09 March 2007

March 09, 2007

The Measures of Welsh Poetry: Part 2: The Englyn

B. The Englyn

This is a series of four parts that covers:
• Cynghanedd ;
• the Englyn ;
• the Cywydd ;
• and the Awdl .
Remember that each line in all 8 forms of englyn uses Cynghanedd or ‘Harmony’.

1. Englyn penfyr (Short Head/End Englyn)
Lines: 3
Syllable count per line: 10, 7, 7
Rhyme pattern: A (internal rhyme around syllable 7 of the first line), A, A
Note: This kind of englyn includes a gair cyrch, i.e. extra words in line one to make up the three syllables after the internal rhyme at syllable 7). There is a caesura or gwant between the internal rhyme in line one and the rest of the line. The gair cyrch should also be echoed via rhyme and alliteration in the first few syllables of the second line.

2. Englyn Milwr (The Soldier’s Englyn)
Lines: 3
Syllable count per line: 7,7,7
Rhyme pattern: A,A,A
Content: Sparse atmosphere.

3. Englyn Unodl Union (Straight One-rhyme Englyn)
Lines: 4
Syllable count per line: 10,6,7,7
Rhyme: A(internal rhyme around syllable 7 of the first line), A, A, A
Stress: The second line must end with an unstressed syllable and in the final couplet, one line has a stressed syllable at the end of the line and the other is unstressed.
Content: epigrammatic, lyrical, didactic, satirical, humorous.
Note: When writing a sequence of these englyns, if a ward in the last line of one stanza is repeated in the first line of the next, it is called a cadwyn or chain. If in the sequence the same rhyme is used, then the sequence is called a gosteg. The first two lines are known as the paladr or shaft and the last two lines are known as the esgyll or wings. As in the englyn penfyr, this includes a gair cyrch, i.e. extra words in line one to make up the three syllables after the internal rhyme at syllable 7). The gair cyrch should also be echoed via rhyme and alliteration in the first few syllables of the second line. Each line also has some kind of cynghanedd.

4. Englyn Unodl Crwca (Crooked One-rhyme Englyn)
Lines: 4
Syllable count per line: 7,7,10, 6
Rhyme: A, A, A(internal rhyme around syllable 7 of the first line), A
Note: The same as above, except that here the paladr and esgyll swap places.

5. Englyn Cyrch (Internal Rhyme Englyn)
Lines: 4
Syllable Count per line:
Rhyme: A, A, B, A (plus an internal rhyme B in the middle of the last line)

6. Englyn Proest Dalgron (Compact Half-rhymed Englyn)
Lines: 4
Syllable count per line: 7,7,7,7
Rhyme: All the line use proest made out of short-vowel sounds or long-vowel sounds. Proest is a kind of half-rhyme in which the end consonant is the same, but the vowel is different though of a similar length. E.g. cap makes proest with with twp (‘stupid’).

7. Englyn Lleddfbroest (Slanted Half-rhymed Englyn)
Lines: 4
Syllable count per line: 7,7,7,7
Rhyme: All the lines use proest using the dipthongs ae, oe, wy, ei and ai.

8. Englyn Proest Gadwynog (Chained Half-rhymed Englyn)
Lines: 4
Syllable count per line: 7,7,7,7
Rhyme: Each line half-rhymes (using proest) with the next and rhymes fully with the next but one.

: 09 Mar 2007 15:04 | Tags: Wales | Comments (3) | Close comments | Report a problem

The Measures of Welsh Poetry: Part One: Cynghanedd

A. Cynghanedd
This is a series of four parts that covers:
• Cynghanedd ;
• the Englyn ;
• the Cywydd ;
• and the Awdl .

1. Cynghanedd Groes (Criss-cross Harmony) (or Cynghanedd Drychben (Chief Mirror Harmony)?)
Where all the consonants appear in the same order before the main stress at the end of each half of the line. Each half of the line ends with an unaccented syllable. Here there is a kind of mirroring of consonant sounds.
E.G. Môr o jam yw Meri Jên. (A sea of jam is Meri Jên).
m r j / m r j
(with stress on ‘jam’ and ‘Jên’)

Spaghetti westerns, spies, ghettos, whist turns.
sp gh t w st rns / sp gh t w st rns
(This English example is not exactly accurate. See comments below. If you can think of a better example, please let me know).

a. Cynghanedd Groes Gytbwys Ddiacen (Unaccented Balanced Criss-cross Harmony)
The stresses are in exactly the same position in both halves of the line.

b. Cynghanedd Groes o Gysswyllt (Cross of Connection Harmony)
Like b, but the repetition of consonants is not neatly balanced between two halves of the line, but begins before the main pause.
E.G. Terrifically terse, the raft cells.
t r f c ll / t r(s) (th) r f(t) c ll.
(This English example is not exactly accurate. See comments below. If you can think of a better example, please let me know).

2. Cynghanedd Draws (Bridging Harmony)
Like Cynghanedd Groes, but the two sets of consonants are separated by consonants which are not repeated.
E.G. Mae ynom, bawb, ddymuniad (There is in us, every one, a longing)
m n /b b dd/ m n
(with the stresses on the first syllable of ‘ynom’ and the second syllable of ‘dymuniad’)

Read in books, so soon, ridden back.

3. Cynghanedd Sain (Tonal Harmony)
Here there is a development of a sound from the first main word to the second main word and the second main word chimes slightly differently with the third main word:
E.G. Hen linell bell nad yw’n bod (An old line faraway that doesn’t exist)
ell / b ell / (n d n) b
(A rhyme binds the first two parts of the line and consonantal chiming balances the second and third part).

The passion will fashion the fascists.
(This English example is not exactly accurate. See comments below. If you can think of a better example, please let me know).

4. Cynghanedd Lusg (Drag Harmony)
Here the syllable at the end of the first half of the line and the penultimate syllable rhyme.
E.G. A saint in an old painting. OR. The man so great and his irate wife (Note that strictly the last word should be of more than one syllable).

: 09 Mar 2007 14:52 | Tags: Wales | Comments (7) | Close comments | Report a problem

'The Cwtch' by Kathryn Gray

Writing about web page http://kathrynlouisegray.blogspot.com/

Here’s a word for us – strictly untranslatable -
having nothing of the kick of legs and stone as Babel
falls (and because of which you’d never hear in chapel)

from the softer tongue of a woman
who birthed to the world working men,
well-travelled down to black, carrying her pain

upwards in their arms, which unfold
really, never, but keep close that old
word at picket lines, in conversation with the cold,

which some say is “a place for coal, under the stairs”
or this very bundle here, which we’ll bear
along with us on our way to where.

[From The Never-Never (35)]