#20 Gwawdodyn

[Tinker]

Explore the Craft of Writing Poetry
Welsh Verse
Features of the Welsh Meters
Welsh Codified Divisions

Gwawdodyn, gwow-dód-in (gwad = poem) is the 20th codified, Official Welsh Meter, an Awdl. It is a combination of a cyhydded naw ban couplet followed by either a toddaid or cyhydedd hir couplet. The elements of Gwawdodyn are:

1. stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains made up of a Cyhydedd Naw Ban couplet followed by either a Toddaid or Cyhydedd Hir.
2. syllabic, L1,L2,L4 are 9 syllable lines and L3 is a 10 syllable line.
3. when written with a cyhydedd hir couplet the stanza is
   • rhymed aaba, with L3 internal rhyme and L4 cross rhymed b.
4. when written with a Toddaid
   • rhymed main rhyme mono-rhymed or aabb. 
   • composed with gair cyrch following the main rhyme and caesura of L3. The gair cyrch end rhyme is echoed in the first half of L4 in secondary rhyme, assonance or consonance.
      

with Cyhydedd Hir                                                                      x x x x x x x x a           x x x x x x x x a           x x x x b x x x x b           x x x b x x x x a           x x x x x x x x c           x x x x x x x x c           x x x x d x x x x d           x x x x d x x x c         with Toddaid          x x x x x x x x a          x x x x x x x x a          x x x x x a - x x x b          x x x b x x x x a          x x x x x x x x c          x x x x x x x x c          x x x x x x x c - x d          x x d x x x x x c          or          x x x x x x x x a          x x x x x x x x a          x x x x x x x b - x c          x x c x x x x x b          x x x x x x x x d          x x x x x x x x d          x x x x x x e - x x f          x x x x f x x x e

House of Stone Turns to Sand Ballots stolen, voters turned away, but dead men will vote twice on the day. No new fields to plow, there is no work now, no sweat on the brow, some only stare. Mugabe builds his army of boys, in war, guns shouldered instead of toys. Pillaging white-farms without care - the fields without yields leave black cupboards bare. Sick mother has no milk for baby, a crocodile barks in the belly. Mother is dying, baby is crying no one defying, no one will dare.                                    ~~ Judi Van Gorder (Zimbabwe is Shona for house of stone)This poem uses Cyhydedd Hir end couplets in stanza 1 & 3 and Toddaid end couplet in stanza 2. I couldn't resist creating a linking rhyme between all stanzas which required diverting L4 of each stanza from the rhyme in the cyhydedd hir couplets. Wizzards and Bards by Judi Van Gorder Summer Swelter by Judi Van Gorder