Rannaigecht: Poetic Forms
Poetic Form Fridays are made to share various poetic forms. This week, we look at the rannaigecht, an Irish quatrain form filled with rhymes.
The rannaigecht is an Irish poetic form. In fact, there are actually a few versions of the rannaigecht, and I plan to cover them all on here eventually. But first, I'm going to share the rannaigecht proper as shared in Robin Skelton's The Shapes of Our Singing.
Here are the ranaigecht guidelines:
- Quatrains (or 4-line stanzas)
- Seven syllables per line
- End words usually have one-syllable words in lines one, two, and four; multi-syllabic word for line three
- The end word of line three rhymes with a word (or words) in the middle of line four
- Lines two and four end rhyme together
- The end words of lines one, two, and four consonate (or have similar consonant sounds)
No other rules for subject or length!
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Play with poetic forms!
Poetic forms are fun poetic games, and this digital guide collects more than 100 poetic forms, including more established poetic forms (like sestinas and sonnets) and newer invented forms (like golden shovels and fibs).
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Here’s my attempt at a Rannaigecht:
It's December, by Robert Lee Brewer
It's December, and the signs
of hope shine beneath the moon
in electric gaiety
for our deities...we swoon.
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
