Entry #546799, added on 11-04-07 @ 8:10 pm EST
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| Welsh Poetry | Entry #546799 |
Some of my favorite forms of poetry are the old Welsh forms. These forms use much rhyme and syllable-count lines, along with the following poetry devices.
Alliteration
Also called “head rhyme” or “initial rhyme,” the repetition of the initial sounds (usually consonants) of stressed syllables in neighboring words or at short intervals within a line or passage, usually at word beginnings, as in "wild and woolly," or the line from Shelley's "The Cloud":
I bear light shade for the leaves when laid
Sidelight: Alliteration has a gratifying effect on the sound, gives a reinforcement to stresses, and can also serve as a subtle connection or emphasis of key words in the line, but alliterated words should not "call attention" to themselves by strained usage.
Consonance
The close repetition of the same end consonants of stressed syllables with differing vowel sounds, such as “boat” and “night,” or the words “drunk” and “milk” in the final line of Coleridge's "Kubla Khan."
Sidelight: Consonance most often occurs within a line. When used at line ends in place of rhyme, as in the words, “cool” and “soul,” in the third stanza of Emily Dickinson's "He Fumbles at your Spirit," it is sometimes referred to as consonantal rhyme to differentiate it from perfect rhyme and other types of near rhyme.
Sidelight: In a more general sense, consonance also refers to a pleasing combination of sounds; sounds in agreement with tone.
Assonance
The relatively close juxtaposition of the same or similar vowel sounds, but with different end consonants in a line or passage, thus a vowel rhyme, as in the words, “date” and “fade.”
The above definitions are complements of:
http://www.poeticbyway.com/glossary.html
Here are a few Welsh forms followed by poems I have written. Pay close attention to the rhyming schemes and the syllable counts.
Cywydd Llosgyrnog
Six line stanza: syllables run eight, eight, seven; eight, eight, seven.
Lines one and two rhyme with the middle of line three; lines four and five rhyme with the middle of line six; lines three and six rhyme with each other.
From Backyards to Battlefields
While sergeants bark mercilessly,
young men crawl laboriously,
strenuously through the dirt.
Cautious, moving undetected;
watching for the unexpected,
tired, exhausted, but alert.
Torso flattened to the ground
moving forward without a sound,
to silence bound – self-control.
On rugged terrain, soldiers strive
to gain skills needed to survive
and stay alive on patrol.
Training, preparing for deploys.
Only yesterday, merely boys,
the guns were toys, bullets fake.
But now they hear the battle's fray,
Explosions not so far away;
no longer play, life's at stake.
©2007
Larry Powers
“kansaspoet”
Toddaid
Quatrains, alternating between ten-syllable and nine-syllable lines. A syllable toward the end of the first line rhymes into the middle of the second; the same effect in three and four. Lines two and four rhyme with each other.
Ode to Worship
Vast angelic voices avow, with shouts
Of joy, how great Thou art, God Most High.
In robust hymn, our hearts embrace, as one,
Your amazing grace that brings us nigh.
Of the breath of God, an inhale of life,
A lone nightingale lends melody.
While willows weep, limbs of elm sway and, in
Passionate display, worship freely.
As sparkling dew, the Spirit, borne on wings
Of faith, comes each morn, a gentle dove.
At evening, when the crimson sun goes down,
We wait for the Son, God’s light of love.
©2006
Larry Powers
“kansaspoet”
Cyhydedd Naw Ban
Nine syllable lines, rhyming in couplets, often continuing the same rhyme through the entire stanza.
Leaf Peekers
Beneath auburn leaves, stacked in a heap,
She lay, motionless, burrowed down deep.
Two blue eyes shining, stealing a peep,
Hoping this, her secret place, to keep.
“Ready or not,” he yelled a shrill shriek -
The boy who was “it” in hide and seek.
From under the loose leaves came a squeak,
A girl’s giggle, as she chanced a peak.
When one boy was found behind a shed
They bolted for base; oh how they sped!
The leaf stack stirred as she raised her head –
All around her, leaves shifted and spread.
With auburn aspen leaflets dangling
From golden hair, she bounced up, bustling
Like the whizzing of whirlwinds, scrambling
To base, in autumn’s early falling.
©2006
Larry Powers
“kansaspoet”
Gwawdodyn
Each stanza begins with the nine-syllable couplet, Cyhydedd naw ban, and continues with either Toddaid or Cyhydedd hir.
Fuzzy Dice
Two golden flowers of paradise
Dangled from a string with fuzzy dice.
She sang the words of a sad country song,
Wishing she had heard Mama’s advice.
With her suitcase jam-packed full of clothes,
She’d snuck out just before the sun rose.
Why she didn’t run away long ago,
But chose to stay, no one really knows.
In the rearview, she bid him adieu,
Through sunshades covering black and blue.
She sped down the highway, fast as she dared,
Leaving the past, to begin anew.
The long hours and languid miles passed by -
Kansas plains, Arizona cacti,
Truck drivers, roadside parks, and billboard signs;
Too much time to fill wondering why.
They were lovers back then, and unfeigned.
Reservation life kept them restrained.
Seeking fame and fortune, they left their home.
Now, of joy bereft, heartache remained.
As the sun set over the desert,
She thought of Mama’s arms of comfort.
When she was a little girl facing fear,
Mama’s embrace removed all the hurt.
Golden flowers of paradise hung
With fuzzy dice, back and forth they swung.
She sang the words of a sad country song,
Thinking of glad days when she was young.
©2006
Larry Powers
“kansaspoet”
The definitions for the above Welsh forms are complements of:
http://anitraweb.org/kalliope/welsh.html |
© Copyright 2007 Brenpoet - Happy Valentine' (UN: brenmaple at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Brenpoet - Happy Valentine' has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.
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