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Welsh poetry and Cynghanedd

September 8th 2009 11:47

I've been on a kick recently of looking up non-English verse forms and trying to do them in English.

Of course I'm not the first one to try Cynghanedd, a Welsh poetry form, in English...it's pretty tricky stuff. Cynghanedd (pronounced kng-han-eth, or something like that) is a Welsh word that means "harmony." It's not an actual structural form, like a sonnet or something, but rather a set of poetic rules, one of which must apply to each line of a Welsh poem.

There are for major types of Cynghanedd: cynghanedd groes, cynghanedd draws, cynghanedd lusg, and cynghanedd sain. In groes, the consonants in the first half of the line are repeated in the second half; sometimes the end-consonants are ignored. Draws is the same as groes, except that there are one or more consonants in the 2nd half of the line that aren't repeated from the 1st half--they stand alone. In lusg, an early syllable in the line rhymes with the penultimate (2nd to last) syllable of the line. In sain--this one is tricky--the line is divided into 3 parts: the first part shares a rhyme with the 2nd part's final syllable, and one or more consonants from the 2nd part are repeated in the third part. Got all that? I'm still not sure if I do, but I went ahead and tried a Welsh poem in English.

The form I used is called the Englyn. According to this site, which is the primary source of my info on Cynghanedd and Welsh poetry, the Englyn is sort of like a Welsh version of a haiku--short and sweet but with (hopefully) profound implications and multiple meanings. Challenging, but not nearly as much as the Cywydd--a poem of 20 lines or longer. Phew! Not ready for that one yet.

This specific type of Englyn, the englyn unodl union, has 4 lines of 10, 6, 7, and 7 syllables, in that order. The first line's 7th, 8th, or 9th syllable rhymes with the ends of the other lines. The last syllables of the first line after the rhyme-word must rhyme or alliterate with the beginning of the 2nd line. In lines 3 and 4, there must be a rhyme between stressed and unstressed syllables. Man, no wonder Welsh poetry tends to turn a lot of non-Welsh speakers off! But I love a challenge, and I couldn't resist.

Here is my attempt of an English englyn unodl union--remember, in addition to the rules of the englyn, each line must also exhibit one of the 4 types of cynghanedd, otherwise it's not a true Welsh poem. Due to the strict nature of cynghanedd, trying to write with a certain English foot in mind--iambic, dactylic, etc--is useless. English prosody doesn't mix well with foreign forms. Consider this a free-verse English poem, even if it is anything but!

"Winter Sense"

The snow will fall, I know so--now too late; (sain)
Sate the cold, unfold, though (lusg)
Frost begets a costful foe: (sain)
Wary wait of weary woe. (draws)

A pretty stumbling attempt, I must admit, yet it took me hours and hours to put it together.
I think I did everything right structurally, although it's questionable whether the "gh" in "weight" counts as consonant, since it's part of the silent "ay" sound. A lot of the time the last consonants of the 1st and 2nd half of a cynghanedd draws line are different, but it didn't say anything about leaving out a final consonant, which I did. For a first attempt, it could be a lot worse, though!

Hopefully I'll get better at this cynghanedd stuff, and maybe be able to share something actually good in the future. Until then, happy writing!

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Posted By: Andrew Kerstetter - Category: writing poetry

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Free Verse Diction

April 24th 2009 01:15

"Gravity"

Amoebic bits of weightless gray
Are wrested from the womb
And flung to face the world.

The naked fall freezes and forms
Defaulted pilgrims, heavy burdens
For airy heights to keep in check.

Pulled to their deaths,
These powerless harbingers
Molt their light while on the move--

In tombs unsung, their movement spent,
They’re moved once more
To break the seal
And taste the sun again.

This is probably one of the most obscure poems I've ever written. The poem is about raindrops, which I hope the title and imagery help to bring across. I was thinking of implicitly comparing raindrops to early Church martyrs, and Gravity being like "Fate" sort of (or divine will). And despite the relentless motion (which can be interpreted as Fate pulling them along, or their choice to accept their fate) they still molt their light. Just like how raindrops shimmer as they fall if the sun is out somewhere. The end of the poem is extremely ambiguous; I'm not even sure of the exact reason I made it that way. From the literal raindrop perspective, I think it means that they return to the surface in plants and other life. From the metaphorical martyr perspective, it means that they have life after death; going to heaven and such.
This is definitely a free verse poem. Aside from alliteration, diction (word choice) is the key for this poem. In all poetry--but especially in free verse--it's important to pick great words that fit the surface meaning of the poem, but might have various connotations beyond the obvious meaning. It helps if the word is a "nice" word, too, to fit in with the meter and make the poem flow. My keywords in this poem are "defaulted," "harbingers," "molt," and "seal." Defaulted can mean several things, including failure;neglection of action, or failure to appear in court or perform some legal action. A Harbingers is a person/thing/event that precedes something else; like an omen-bringer, or a herald. Raindrops can be harbingers of life or death, and the saints/martyrs were harbingers in a religious sense. Molt means an act of shedding or casting off in the process of renewal. A seal is something that keeps something shut, and possibly secret. So with these words' various definitons, and the levels of metaphor in the poem, it's possible to read quite a lot deeper than the surface and still have a valid interpretation. I love ambiguity.
The only problem I had (and still have) is coming up with a proper title. I wanted a concise title that captures the essence of the poem and maybe helps readers understand it better. Did I do a good job with this one? If anyone has a suggestion for a different title, feel free to share! Have a great day everyone!

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Posted By: Andrew Kerstetter - Category: free verse

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Where Shadows Go

April 14th 2009 16:09

One of my own photos

Where shadows go no one can tell,
As when the night clicks shut its chest,
Abruptly ending daylight’s soft farewell,
Enclosing all in darkness tight compressed.

The sun retreats into the west,
Decrees of time and space to quell.
We see the sun recede to rest;
Where shadows go, no one can tell.

We choose to end the lamplight’s burning spell,
But dark controls itself without contest.
We then in sleeping blindness dwell,
As when the night clicks shut its chest.

The summer shadows, sharp and blessed
With lengthened life, cannot dispel
Encroaching night, the sun‘s long reign to wrest,
Abruptly ending daylight’s soft farewell.

The shadows sense the sunset’s speeding knell;
They see approaching death and so invest
Their time with life enlarged, before the night can swell,
Enclosing all in darkness tight compressed.

Do shadows have an afterlife as honored guest
Of void between the stars, eternal well
Of life, or are they by the sun possessed,
Or is it in this closed-lid, darkened shell
Where shadows go?

This poem form is called Rondeau Redouble (or double rondo). The rhyme scheme is abab baba abab etc. to the end. Each line of the first stanza is repeated as the last line of each subsequent stanza, as you can see in the poem I presented here. The very last line of the poem is the first bit of the first line. It's a really tough form to write because of the rigid rhyme scheme as well as the line repetition.

As a result, I used a scheme known as Anastrophe (uh-nass-truh-fee) which is when the regular grammatical sequence of a phrase/clause is reversed. I like to call this "Yodafication" since this is how Yoda always talks in Star Wars. For example, the normal way would be "No one can tell where shadows go" but I reverse it to be "Where shadows go no one can tell." This is a common poetic (and prosaic) technique that stretches back to the ancients. It works too, as long as you don't overuse it--then it just sounds forced and cheesy ("Hallmark" poetry). I use this scheme in several spots in this poem, "Where Shadows Go." Can you find them all?

I'd also like to say a word about photography. I absolutely love taking photos, especially of nature (landscapes, plants, animals, sunsets, etc.) because it's fun trying to get the perfect angle of something, the perfect distance and coloring and lighting, to make something ordinary into something beautiful. It's all about new perspectives. If you can get at something with an unusual perspective, or an interesting angle, that thing suddenly becomes more interesting and beautiful. I think all poets and writers ought to take up photography and maybe even take a photography class. It really helps stimulate my creative process. In fact, the picture I posted on this post (one of my own) inspired me to write "Where Shadows Go" and a few other poems. So next time you go for a walk or a drive, take your camera along--you never know what might strike you at a given moment.

Oh, and yes I've returned from my long hiatus. I didn't expect it to be so long, but it turned into almost a couple months! I got so caught up in life that I forgot about this little blog, then I realized that the 60 day mark was coming up soon, so I decided I needed to start posting again! I started this thing in the first place to help spur me along in my writing and not get complacent, which is exactly what happened during my hiatus. I was very busy with schoolwork and life in general, but I wasn't writing very much. Over Easter, I was relaxed and rejuvenated and my muse returned to me. So here I am again!

I plan to highlight more poetic/rhetorical schemes and tropes in the future, and maybe talk more specifically about photography. Until then, have a great day and keep your eyes and your minds open!

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Posted By: Andrew Kerstetter - Category: formal poetry, writing poetry

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