Irish Verse Forms Description

Irish Verse Forms

The following forms are written with the defining features of most Celtic poems:
cywddydd (harmony of sound) in English meaning alliteration and assonance
and dunadh (beginning and ending the poem with the same word, phrase or meaning) .


1. Ae Freislighe (ay frésh-lee)
meaning "liver recumbant-position" so typically translated as "juxtaposed composition"

and the form is:

a. written in any number of quatrains, each line has 7 syllables
b. L1 and L3 written with three-syllable end-words and L2 and L4 with two-syllable end-words
c. rhyme scheme abab, cdcd, etc.
d. cywddydd and dunadh
x x x x (x x a)
x x x x x (x b)
x x x x (x x a)
x x x x x (x b)

Example: "Hymns Heaven-bound" 


2. Rannaicheacht Mhor Gairit (ron-a'yach voor gare-id)
meaning "great versification with shortened line"

and the form is:

a. written in any number of quatrains.
b. syllabic 3-7-7-7
c. rhyme scheme aaxa, bbxb, ccxc, etc
d. written with aicill rhyme (L3 ends in a 2 syllable word, it rhymes internally in L4)
e. cywddydd and dunadh

Examples:  "Willow" ,  "Timeless Celtic Night" 


3. Treochair (ch-oe-kare)
meaning "the triple key"

and the form is:

a. written in tercets
b. syllabic 3-7-7
c. rhymed, axa bxb cxc ....ending with axa
d. cywddydd and dunadh

Example:  "Last Light of Day" 


4. Snámh Suad (sNaaoo Sooud)
literally "swimming of the sages", meaning "poetic floating."

a. an octave, each line has 3 syllables
b. rhymed aabcdddc
c. L4 and L8 must be 3 syllable words.
d. cywddydd and dunadh


Soap and Suds

Laundry day,
work not play.
Fluff and fold
    wash-a-crat;
see swirled suds,
washing duds,
drinking Buds,
    Laundromat.

-- NOVAcatmando


The best approach to tight forms like this one is to work it backwards. I write the last line first, with an eye to whether I can match the three syllable count and get dunadh. Like - Laundromat (L8) and laundry day (L1). These are the outside edges of the puzzle. Now (L4) the trickiest. This is a silly poem and I took a Seussical approach on rhyme – wash-a-crat.

More examples:  "Triology of Irish Poems "  ,  "Burla of Irish Poems"