WEALTH OF WELSH

Welsh is one of richest language in term of poetry. Englyn, Cywydd and awdl are the three river flow over the Welsh Language and complete the beauty of Global Verse.

1.Englyn –

Englyn a Welsh and Cornish short poem form. Each line contains a repeating pattern of consonants and accent called cynghanedd.It also uses quantitative metres.

A) Quantitative Metre: patterns of syllables based on syllable weight

B)Cynghanedd: concept of sound-arrangement within one line, using stress, alliteration and rhyme.

Types of Cynghanedd:

• Cynghanedd groes (cross-harmony) -All consonants surrounding the main stressed vowel before the caesura must be repeated after it in the same order. However, the final consonants of the final words of each half of the line must be different, as must the main stressed vowel of each half. For example:

 

1. clawdd i ddal / cal ddwy ddwylaw
2. -CL Dd Dd L / C L Dd Dd L
3. Of the Yore-floo(d), / of the year'(s) fall
4. -f th   y   r    fl          /     f th   y  r         f  l

• Cynghanedd draws (partial cross-harmony) -Exactly as in cynghanedd groes, except that there are consonants at the beginning of the second half of the line which are not present in the series of ‘echoed’ consonants. For Example:Rhowch wedd wen dan orchudd iâ
  rh……ch……dd……../.(dn)..r.ch..dd

  Warm-laid grave of a / womb-life grey

• Cynghanedd sain (sound-harmony) -Line is divided into three sections by its two caesuras, the first and second sections rhyme, and the third section repeats the consonantal patterns of the second. For example:pant yw hwy / na llwy / na llaw

  / N Ll / N Ll

• Cynghanedd lusg (drag-harmony) -The final syllable before the caesura in the first half of the line makes full rhyme with the penultimate syllable of the line-final polysyllabic word (i.e. the main stressed syllable of the second half). For example:

  duw er ei radd / a'i addef,

List of Englyn:

1. Englyn penfyr
2. Englyn milwr
3. Englyn unodl union
4. Englyn unodl crwca
5. Englyn cyrch
6. EEnglyn proest dalgron
7. Englyn lleddfbroest
8. Englyn proest cadwynog
9. Englyn proest cyfnewidiog
10. Englyn toddaid
11. Englyn cil-dwrn

2. AWDL :                                                                                                                                                                                                 An awdl is a Welsh ode.

3. CYWYDD:                                                                                                                                                                                           cywydd consists of a series of seven-syllable lines in rhyming couplets, with all lines written in cynghanedd. One of the lines must finish with a stressed syllable, while the other must finish with an unstressed syllable. The rhyme may vary from couplet to couplet, or may remain the same. There is no rule about how many couplets there must be in a cywydd.

 

Ref:

1. Cynghanedd  Wiki.
2. Cynghanedd source
3. Englyn Wiki