Clogyrnach

History:

Clogyrnach, pronounced clog-ír-nach, (or even simpler a Clog Ear Nak, more or less) is a 16th codified Welsh meter, one of 24 official Welsh meters, and falls under the category of Awdl, or ode.

Structure:

Honestly, as far as Gaelic or Welsh forms go, this one is not that bad. Some get down right masochistic to write. Anyways…

  • Written in any number of 5 line stanzas
  • Each stanza is 32 syllables, divided up line wise into a couplet of 8 syllables each, a 2nd couplet of 5 syllables each, and a final couplet of 3 syllables each
  • The two three syllable lines can be written as one 6 syllable line, but keep to the rhyme scheme
  • Which is aabbba

Sources:

Turco, Lewis. The Book of Forms a Handbook of Poetics. University Press of New England, 2000.

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