Tag Archives: Irish

Trian Rannaigechta Moire

By | | ,
Comments Off on Trian Rannaigechta Moire

The following description is reposted with permission from Poetry Magnum Opus, with thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on that fine resource and to Barbara Hartman for the example.

Trian Rannaigechta Moire is a dan direach meter of ancient Celtic or Irish Verse Forms written in short lines with consonant rhyme, cywddydd (harmony of sound) and dunadh (beginning and ending the poem with the same word, syllable or phrase.

The elements of the Trian Rannaigechta Moire are:

  1. stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains,
  2. each line has 4 syllables.
  3. rhymed xaba xcdc etc. The end words of all lines consonate.
  4. written with aicill rhyme when the end word of L3 is a 2 syllable word. The 2 syllable end word of L3 is only a trigger for the aicill rhyme. It is not mandatory that any line end with a 2 syllable word.
    x x x x
    x x x a
    x x (x b) (when end word is 2 syllables, the b rhyme is repeated internally in L4)
    x b x a

    x x x x
    x x x c
    x x x d (note: single syllable end word, d rhyme is not repeated internally in L4)
    x x x c

    In the following poem all of the criteria is met except to consonate all of the end words of each quatrain. We have to remember the poem always comes first before the traditional form criteria and it probably would have been easier to consonate the end words if written in the original Gaelic. Something we often forget about emulating verse forms from different cultures and languages, the criteria doesn’t always easily translate into English.

    Trickster Time by Barbara Hartman

    Spring storm dumps snow,
    glazes green clumps,
    bends bows low
    to grow huge humps.

    March makes mischief:
    tricksters take wing
    practicing pranks
    on silly Spring.

My Example

Form: Trian Rannaigechta Moire

Only Gold

Vain little ride
on mountain road
could not get rid
of fears that rode.

We paid our dues-
those cold harsh days
passed bucks and does;
searched in a daze.

We stopped the van,
found a gold vein,
but lost my dog;
we’d searched in vain.

© Lawrencealot – February 4, 2015

This poet abandoned consonance in the penultimate line for sake of a powerful closing couplet, and an unspoken tribute to the difficulties handled by the ancient Celtics.

Visual Template

Séadna Mheadhanach

By | | , ,
Comments Off on Séadna Mheadhanach

Séadna mheadhanach is:
○ the same as the Séadna.
○ except the 1st and 3rd lines of the quatrain are 3 syllable words and the 2nd and 4th lines are 2 syllable words.

x x x x x (x x a)
x a x x x (x b)
x x x b x (x x c)
x b x c x (x b)

Syllabic Silliness
by Judi Van Gorder

When writing verse be attendant,
confidant in the stillness
with syllable count dependant,
drill and chant shunning shrillness.

Pasted from Poetry Magnum Opus, with thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.


My Example

Form: Séadna Mheadhanach

2nd Childhood

Observe how gramps does emulate
what kids create in youthful
wonder at almost everything.
He thinks that time is fruitful.
That youth he’d yearn to peculate
this late in lifetime’s reserve
because there’s something wonderful
in whatever they observe.

© Lawrencealot – January 21, 2015

Visual Template

Séadna Mòr

By | | ,
Comments Off on Séadna Mòr

Séadna (shay’-na) is Gaelic for passage.The Séadnas are dan direach or direct meter forms which alternate syllable count from line to line. They are Celtic or ancient Irish Verse Forms, written with cywddydd (harmony of sound) and dunadh (ending the poem with the same word, phrase or line with which the poem began). Séadna (named for its main character.) is also an old Irish folktale by Peadar Ó Laoghaire (1839-1920), published in 1904 which is a favorite for beginning readers of Gaelic and is not written in verse.

• Séadna Mòr (shay’-na mor) stanza is:
○ the same as Séadna.
○ except L2 and L4 end in three-syllable words instead of monosyllable words.
x x x x x x (x a)
x a x x (x x b)
x x x b x x (x c)
x b x c (x x b)

And The Winners are . . . by Barbara Hartman

Cliff-swallows careen in between
twin pillars of portico.
Flights ferry mud balls for cement
— birds’ descent blights bungalow.

Gourd-shaped nests sprout out from stucco,
constant chatter — tremolo.
Smears and splatters on walls defy
hose. “Please don’t,” cry cliff-swallows

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1168#mheadhanach
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

Specifications restated:
Séadna Mòr (shay’-na mor) stanza is:
written in any number of quatrains.
syllabic 8-7-8-7.
written with L1 and L3, 2 syllable end words; L2 and L4, 3 syllable end words.
rhymed. L2 and L4 end rhyme, L3 rhymes with the stressed word preceding the final word of L4.
composed with alliteration in each line, the final word of L4 alliterating with the preceding stressed word.
The final syllable of L1 alliterates with the first stressed word of L2.

My example

No Sale Buk (Forn: Séadna Mòr )

Inflated by boldness assumed,
and consumed and debated
by some sycophants who perceived,
perhaps wise wit created.

Overrated, you have stated,
Yes I still sit unsated.
His sad self-promotion fizzled
and found him not inflated.

© Lawrencealot – January 19, 2015

Visual template

Seadna Mor

Rannaigecht chethar-chubaid garit rocamarcach

By | | ,
Comments Off on Rannaigecht chethar-chubaid garit rocamarcach

Rannaicheacht, randaigecht chethar-chubaid garit rocamarcach is:
• a Rannaicheacht (versification) gharid (clipped) with two-syllable end words. (chethar-chubaid)
• written in any number of quatrains.
• syllabic 3-7-7-7..
• alliterated, 2 word alliteration in each line.
• written with aicill rhyme, the end word of L3 internally rhymes with L4.
• written with the defining features of all ancient Celtic forms, cywdydd and dunadh.

x (x a)
x x x x x (x a)
x x x x x (x B)
x x bx x (x a)

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1170#chethar
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

Cywdydd = 7 syllable lines, couplets ending alternatively stressed and unstressed
Dunadh = Ending as it start

My example

Fashion (Randaigecht chethar-chubaid garit rocamarcach)

Pray perceive
clothing’s cultural I believe.
Sometimes nothing beats something
is a thing that you’ll perceive.

© Lawrencealot – January 9, 2015

Visual template

Randaigecht chethar-chubaid garit rocamarcach

Rannaicheacht Mhor Gairit

By | | ,
Comments Off on Rannaicheacht Mhor Gairit

Rannaicheacht Mhor Gairit (great versification with “clipped” or shortened line) is:
• written in any number of quatrains.
• syllabic 3-7-7-7.
• alliterated, 2 word alliteration in each line.
• rhymed, rhyme scheme aaba ccdc etc.
• if L3 ends in a 2 syllable word, aicill rhyme is employed and the end word of L3 rhymes internally in L4.

x x a
x x x x x x a
x x x x x (x b)
x x b x x x a

x x c
x x x x x x c
x x x x x (x d)
x x d x x x c
Squatters by Barbara Hartman
Prairie dogs
carry on shrill dialogues
outside apartment housing
— grumpy, grousing demagogues.
They moved in
last summer with all their kin,
dug tunnels in our pasture
— cool, cocksure, they always win.
All agog,
hungry rodents eat like hogs,
while poor farmers rue the day
God created prairie dogs.
Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1170#mhorgairit
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example
Puppy Poop (Rannaicheacht Mhor Gairit)
Doggy doo
is mom-speak for piles of poo.
Dad deems it be done outside.
Dignified dogs take that view.
Big is bad
when scooping poop, so said dad.
The pups chew shoes I confess.
Their scat’s less and that’s not sad.
© Lawrencealot – January 8, 2015
Visual template

Rannaicheacht Mhor Gairit

Deachnadh Mor

By | | ,
Comments Off on Deachnadh Mor

Deachnadh Mor

Type:

Structure, Metrical Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Other Requirement, Stanzaic

Description:

Supposedly pronounced da-GNAW-moor, this is a complex Irish syllabic form. Here are the rules:

  1. The form is a stanzaic quatrain form.

  1. Lines one and three have eight syllables.

  1. Lines two and four have six syllables.

  2. The lines have di-syllabic endings, meaning the last two syllables are both involved in the consonation.

  1. The stanza consonates in an alternating (abab) pattern.

  1. There are at least two cross-rhymes in each couplet.

  1. The final word of line three rhymes with a word in the interior of line four.

  1. The internal rhyme in the first couplet can consonate instead of true rhyme.

  2. In the second couplet, rhymes are exact.

  3. Two words alliterate in each line.

  4. In line four, the final word alliterates with the previous stressed word.

  5. The poem (not the stanza) should end as it began, with a word, phrase or line the same. (Dunadh)

Obviously, with so few syllables packing so many forms of binding, it will probably be that each syllable will participate in multiple ways. One syllable might be alliterative internally, rhyming within the couplet, and consonating with the alternate line. This is not a form for beginners, and works much better in other languages, such as Gaelic. To the ancient Celts, poetry was magic. Their forms are very complex to keep the magic among the priestly (Druidic) classes. One of their poets often had the equivalent in study to a doctoral degree in our society.

Origin:

Irish

Schematic:

xcxxdx(aa)

xdxc(bb)

xexxfx(aá)

xfáe(bb)

(aa) = Di-syllabic consonation.
(bb) = Di-syllabic consonation.
á = True rhyme.
c, d = true rhymes or consonations binding the couplet.
e, f = true rhymes binding the couplet.

This schema does not show the alliteration.

 

 

Pasted from http://www.poetrybase.info/forms/000/74.shtml
My thanks to Charles L. Weatherford for his years of work on the wonderful Poetrybase resource.

 

Restated specifications:

Begin the poem with a two-syllable word, which will become the poem’s final word.
L1-5 (Line one syllable 5) must R/C (rhyme or consonate with L2-2.
Two words in line should alliterate.
L2-4 must R/C with L1-2. Two words in line should alliterate.
L3-2 must true rhyme with L4-4. Two words in line should alliterate.
L3-5 must true rhyme with L4-2. Two words in line should alliterate.
L4-3 must true rhyme with L3-8. Two words in line should alliterate.
Final Stanza.
The last word must be the first word of Stanza 1,
therefore will determine the end-rhyme for L2 and L4.

But…
Venicebard – Okay, here comes some tough love. You’re missing the aicill rime (end-word rimed with word within following line) in the second couplet. Also, I’m afraid when modern specs (for Irish forms) speak of ‘consonance’, they actually mean assonance (the two words were considered equivalent a half century ago, except perhaps in the technical speech of linguists), though today the technical meaning is agreement of more than one sound (can include vowel). The cross-rimes in Dan Direach allow assonance in cross-rimes of first couplet of quatrain. Full rime in Irish, of course, itself allows substitution of like-sounding consonants (p-t-k, etc.) (By the way, this form is so close to the modern specs for Rannaigheacht Bheag as to be suspect.) It is in the Welsh forms (and proto-Welsh measures) that consonance in its modern technical meaning is utilized extensively, but the specs for Irish forms given in John O’Donovan’s A Grammar of the Irish Language show that it was what we call assonance that was called for where the modern specs tend to say ‘consonance’. (Many Irish poets themselves may be unaware of this, however, not having looked into the history of their tradition, and indeed I have only the one source to go by so far, more or less.) -Gary Kent Spain, posting as Venicebard on Allpoetry.

Visual template

Deachnadh mor

Deachnadh Cummaisc

By | | ,
Comments Off on Deachnadh Cummaisc

Deachnadh Cummaisc and Deachnadh Mor are ancient Irish Verse Forms that use consonant rhyme, not true rhyme. (easier said than done.)
• The defining features of the Deachnadh Cummaisc are:
○ written in any number of quatrains.
○ syllabic 8-4-8-4 or 8-4-4-8
○ written with consonance rhyme only abab cdcd etc
○ terminated, usually written with 2 syllable end words.
○ when L3 is written with a 2 syllable end word, aicill rhyme is employed.
○ written with the defining features of most Celtic poems, cywddydd (harmony of sound) and dunadh (ending the poem with the same word, phrase or line with which the poem began) Irish Verse Forms

x x x x x x (x a)
x x (x B) 
x x x x x x (x a)
x x a (x B) 

This Time of Year by Barbara Hartman

Today on Lizard Head, snow-pack 
recoils, recedes
— streams swell, dry reservoirs snapback, 
resource restored. 

Creeks cavort, rush to join rivers, 
boulders tumble. 
The Dolores races, shivers, 
quivers, trembles. 

White-water rapids slap riprap, 
romp, run away, 
Rocky Mountain snowcap renders 
runoff today.
Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1174
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

(Commonly used in Celtic verse forms.) According to the NPEOPP aicill rhyme is simply rhyming an end word of one line with a word somewhere early in the next line. Robin Skelton’s Shapes of our Singing takes it a step further and states aicill rhyme occurs when the end word of the first line is disyllabic. An on-line source describing Gaelic pronunciation takes it another step further describing aicill rhyme as occuring when the last stressed syllable of an end word rhymes with the next to last unstressed word in the next line with no mention that the end word need by disyllabic. (Gaelic examples I’ve been able to find seem to support all 3 definitions, of course I can’t really hear the stressed/unstressed definition but one example appeared as if the internal rhyme could be unstressed by the position in the line and the words around it.)

Pasted from <http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1261#aicill>

My Example

Welcome (Deachnadh Cummaisc)

Welcome, Delighted you arrived.
There’s a passel
to pass around.
So party-up! Don’t be passive.

Just shove the cat or dog away
They’ll feel perplexed,
and put awry,
but will stay, willing to partake.

They’ll willingly clean your fingers
with tongues wagging
when you’re finished.
It’s our way to make you welcome.

© Lawrencealot – November 28, 2014

Note: Below is what happens when you return to the desk, thinking that you were to be writing a poem with rhymes in assonance not consonance. This was my first effort, replaced with the above.

Welcome (Deachnadh Cummaisc)

Welcome. Delighted you arrived.
Last year callers
have all survived.
We’re festive drinkers, not brawlers.

Just shove the cat or dog aside,
although pesky
pets, they’ll abide;
It’s granpa who could get testy

We’ll jointly address your spirit
and your welfare.
Hell? Don’t fear it .
There’s someplace you’re always welcome.

© Lawrencealot – November 28, 2014

Visual template

Deachnadh Cummaisc

Cethramtu Rannaigheacht Mor

By | | ,
Comments Off on Cethramtu Rannaigheacht Mor

The Cethramtu Rannaigheacht Mor is a relatively simple stanzaic Irish Verse Form. 

The Cethramtu Raanigheacht Mor is:
• written in any number of quatrains,
• syllabic, each line has 3 syllables.
• rhymed xaxa xbxb etc, x being unrhymed.
• written with the defining features of most Celtic poems, cywddydd (harmony of sound) and dunadh (ending the poem with the same word, phrase or line with which the poem began) 
Swinging Door by Judi Van Gorder

Open door
lets her roam,
in and out
of her home. 

Fun with toys
bright play things,
when she swings
the bell rings.

She’ll not leave
here’s hopin’,
through the door
left open.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1177
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

Looks Better – (Cethramtu Rannigheacht Mor)

White and wet
heavy snow
falling fast
cars can’t go.

Stay inside.
Read a book.
Time off work’s
what I took.

Snuggle up
with a wife
just your own;
avoid strife.

Contemplate
daunting chores –
shoveling
out of doors.

Visually
a delight
at Christmas
‘cus it’s white.

© Lawrencealot – Nov 20, 2014

Visual template

Cethramtu Rannigheacht Mor

Sneadhbairdne

By | | ,
Comments Off on Sneadhbairdne

Sneadhbhairdne (sna-vuy-erd-ne):
A quatrain stanza of alternating eight syllable lines and four syllable lines with two syllable endings. Lines two and four rhyme, line three consonates with both. All words in the final line must rhyme line, the final word of line four alliterating with the preceding stressed word.

(x B) x x x x (x a)
x x (x b)
x x x x x (b c)
b b (x B)

Pasted from <http://www.thepoetsgarret.com/celtic1.html>

Sneadhbairdne (snay-vuy-erd-ne) is an ancient Irish Form seemingly overloaded with features used in direct meter.

The Sneadhbairdne is:
• stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains.
• syllabic 8-4-8-4 syllables per line.
• alliterated in each line.
• written with two-syllable end words in each line.
• rhymed, L2 and L4 end rhyme. L3 consonates with the rhyme.
• every stressed syllable in L4 must rhyme.
• written with cywddydd (harmony of sound) and dunadh (beginning and ending the poem with the same word, phrase or line).

x x x x x x (x x) 
x x (x A) 
x x x x x x (x a) 
x A(x A)

October by Barbara Hartman

Beware! Canyon country’s ablaze
—gold leaves galore
glow by silver streams that glisten,
storms roar, restore.

Cumulus clouds shroud the Chuskas,
people prepare
for horny hunters who declare
“Let bears beware!”

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1166
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

She’s a Tease (Sneadhbairdne)

Warning! She will keep you waiting
playing, pleasing
quite despite impatient pleading
She likes teasing.

With her wiles you’ll welcome waiting
scorning mourning.
I’ll implore you’re not ignoring
forlorn warning.

© Lawrencealot – October 9, 2014

Visual template of sorts

Sneadhbairdne

Rannaicheacht Ghairid

By | | ,
Comments Off on Rannaicheacht Ghairid

Irish poetry.

• Rannaicheacht Ghairid (ron-a’yach cha’r-rid) (versification with shortened line) is:
○ written in any number of quatrains with uneven lines.
○ syllabic 3-7-7-7.
○ alliterated, 2 word alliteration in each line.
○ rhymed a a b a, with the end word of L3 internally rhymed in the first half or L4. 

x x a
x x x x x x a
x x x x x x b
x x b x x x a. (internal rhyme may be in any position within the line)

Ring of Love by Barbara Hartman & Judi Van Gorder

Sparrows swing
on sunflower stems to wring
last seeds that cling to dead heads.
Summer sheds while sparrows sing.

Maiden weds,
that night the young groom beds
his love with tender touch. Glows,
pleased he sews blood upon threads.

True love grows,
this fair knight and maid’s life shows
summer love can thrive in spring
blessed by a ring of sparrows.

Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=1170#ghairid
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resource.

My example

Calling Dawn Patrol (Rannaicheacht Ghairid)

Cawing crows
seemed caucused in raucous rows
as though the thought of my sleep
ought to deeply be opposed.

On this block
lives a hearty red-tailed hawk;
what he needs to do today
is chase ‘way this flippin’ flock.

A gnawing
knowledge keeps thoughts from thawing,
if a raptor should descend
might that end callous cawing.

© Lawrencealot – October 8, 2014

Visual template

Rannaicheacht Ghairid