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#3. Englyn unodl union or straight one rhyme englyn


Tinker

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

Englyn unodl union, én-glin éen-oddle éen-yon (straight one rhyme englyn)the 3rd codified Official Welsh Meter, is the most popular of the Englyn meters and is often referred to as simply Englyn. It can range from lyrical to didactic and sometimes satirical. It is said to require "pithy expression and concise thinking." Singing in Chains by M. Hopwood. The uneven lines are referred to as the paladr or shaft and the even lines are the esgyll or wings of the stanza. Important features of the meter are the 2nd line must end on an unstressed syllable and the last line should be strong. The Englyn unodl crwc, is the structural reversal of the englyn unodl union and is rarely used.

The elements of the englyn unodl union are:

  1. stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains.
  2. syllabic, made up of 10-6-7-7 syllable lines.
  3. rhymed, mono rhymed, the main rhyme (the dominant rhyme of the stanza) "A" is found somewhere in the last half of L1 (6th, 7th or 8th syllables) and is followed by caesura plus the rest of the 10 syllables and rhymes with the end words of L2 through L4.
  4. composed with an addendum, a "gair cyrch" in L1 (syllables in the last half of a line that follow the main rhyme marked by caesura. The gair cyrch end rhyme is to be echoed or consonated as secondary rhyme in the 1st half of L2. The caesura often appears as a dash.)
  5. written with L2 always ending in an unstressed syllable and either L3 or L4 should also end in an unstressed syllable.

    x x x x x x A x x b
    x b x x x A
    x x x x x x A
    x x x x x x A

       

    Kentucky Derby                                                                             

    We cheer the run for the roses - the quest
    the best of three discloses,
    the finest, a shouted Oh!, says . . .
    Churchill Downs' proposes.
                                        ~~Judi Van Gorder

    Two Dollar Bet  

    Under wide brimmed hat prinked with birds - so hip,
    a hot tip is overheard,
    favored until afterward,
    my pick, far back in the herd.
                            ~~Judi Van Gorder

    Pob dyn oer dyddyn neut eiddaw agheu
    aghyueillwr iddaw
    y veddu daear arnaw
    y ved or diwed y daw
                  --- Prydydd Y Moch

    To everyman belongs death, cold tenement,
    death the unfriendly;
    to own earth above him,
    to the grave at last he comes.
                       -- translated by Gwyn Miller

    Cei fynwes gynes geni---cu fwynwalch
    cei f'einioes os mynni;
    cei fy llaw yn dy law di,
    cei fy nerth cyfan wrthi
                                ---anonymous
    Welsh poets often repeat the first letter,
    syllable or word in each line of the stanza.
    This is called cymeriad (memory).

~~ © ~~ Poems by Judi Van Gorder ~~

For permission to use this work you can write to Tinker1111@icloud.com

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