Englyn lleddfbroest, én-glin lléd-uhv-broyst (diphthong half rhymed englyn), the 7th codified Official Welsh Meter, an Englyn, is close to impossible to emulate in English. Therefore, if you want to give this one a try, consider yourself successful if you get sort of close to these sounds. As the on-line site Kalliope says “in English, cheat”.
The defining features of the englyn lleddfbroest are:
• stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains.
• syllabic, 7 syllable lines.
rhymed, all of the lines half rhymes but the four half-rhymes must be the diphthongs ae, oe, wy, and ei in whatever order.
|
x x x x x x ae x x x x x x oe x x x x x x wy x x x x x x ei or ai |
Llawen dan glaerwen len laes, lleddfolwg gloyn amlwg glwys, llathrlun manol a foleis, llarieidd foneddigeidd foes. —- Einion Offeiriad 15th century |
Absolute Nonsense
Sorry, even cheating fails,
to try writing Welsh forms foils
artistry and yet appeals
to poets creating howls.
— Judi Van Gorder
The Agave Cactus by Stephen Arndt
Rings of fleshy leaves are joined
About the stalk they surround;
Its five-meter height attained,
Not a bud is there to find.
Half a century devoid
Of blooms that would make you proud,
When they flower, long delayed,
Yellow suns rise, open-eyed.
These gold flowers you enjoy
Took you fifty years, and now
You at last have had your day—
It is time for you to die.
I have fifty years of toil,
And though they’ve not yet grown foul,
I have hopes they will not fail
Before they have bloomed a while.
Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=981
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.
My attempt
Imaginary Dipthongs (Englyn lleddfbroest)
If you plan to write this way
and you are an English boy,
One will have to ask you “Why”?
There seems little to enjoy.
© Lawrencealot – December 10, 2014
Related Welsh Form are HERE.
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