Byr a Thoddaid (beer ah TOE-thy’d), one of the 24 traditional Welsh
stanza forms, consists of four lines of syllable count 10/6/8/8
(or 8/8/10/6), rimed on last syllable except for the 10-syllable line,
which has the main rime on the 7th, 8th, or 9th syllable with the
remainder set off by dash and either rimed within the 6-syllable
line or with its sequence of consonant-sounds repeated at the
start of the 6-syllable line, as above.
This poem has the Cynghanedd (consonance, harmony of sound)
required of Welsh bards, as detailed here:
http://allpoetry.com/column/7546199-Welsh_Poetry_-_Part_I_Cynghanedd_-by-Welshbard
Specifically, all but the last line of the first stanza
and the penultimate line of the second have Cynghanedd lusg
(trailing consonance), in which the accented penultimate syllable
of the end-word is rimed earlier in the line
(the part of each 10-syllable line after the dash being excluded);
S1L4 and S2L3, then, both have Cynghanedd groes (cross-consonance),
in which the second part of the line repeats the sequence of
consonant sounds in the first (end of last syllable of either
sequence can be ignored, as can n, while w and y the Welsh treat as vowels).
This form makes use of the gair cyrch in which the main rhyme appears somewhere near the end of a longer line and the end word is a secondary rhyme. The secondary rhyme is then echoed by alliteration or assonance in the first half of the next line.
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stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains made up of 2 couplets,
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syllabic, either L1-L2 8 syllables, L3 10 syllables L4 6 syllables, or the couplets are reversed L1 10 syllables, L2 6 syllables, L3-L4 8 syllables.
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rhymed, either aaba with the main rhyme A occurring somewhere near the end of L3 and the secondary rhyme b echoed by alliteration or assonance in the first half of L4 or the couplets are reversed baaa.
Potential
I know that my life’s potent– gauged not small–
gives notice of quotient
believed not achieved to extent
that make it thus, this man’s intent .
Say I, one day still invent– mankind’s balm–
Might call on all unspent
forces of mine formerly misspent
then would I feel good and content?
© Lawrencealot – June 29,2012
Authors’s Notes
This poem has the Cynghanedd (consonance, harmony of sound)
required of Welsh bards, as detailed here:
Specifically, all but the last line of the first stanza
and the penultimate line of the second have Cynghanedd lusg
(trailing consonance), in which the accented penultimate syllable
of the end-word is rimed earlier in the line
(the part of each 10-syllable line after the dash being excluded);
S1L4 and S2L3, then, both have Cynghanedd groes (cross-consonance),
in which the second part of the line repeats the sequence of
consonant sounds in the first (end of last syllable of either
sequence can be ignored, as can n, while w and y the Welsh treat as vowels).
Please note the correction suggested in the comments below and navigate there
for a fuller treatment of this form.
This correction by Gary Kent Spain, aka, Venicebard on Allpoetry.
You might want to alter the Cynghanedd part of your AN here (lifted from one of my poems, which is okay except it is inaccurate with respect to your poem) to reflect the slightly looser form of Cynghanedd Groes (and echoing of the gair cyrch) you have aimed for in this poem. The following link gives for C. Groes the stipulation that all that is necessary is repetition of the initial consonants of words, which is close to what you’ve tried to do here:
Related Welch form at HERE.
Visual Template of sorts
