WD Poetic Form Challenge: Gwawdodyn
It’s time for another poetic form challenge, and this time we’re focusing squarely on the 4-line Welsh form, the gwawdodyn. Here are the basic rules for the gwawdodyn: Want to…
It's time for another poetic form challenge, and this time we're focusing squarely on the 4-line Welsh form, the gwawdodyn.
Here are the basic rules for the gwawdodyn:
- Quatrain (4-line stanza) with an a/b rhyme scheme.
- First, second, and fourth lines have 9 syllables and rhyme with each other.
- The third line has 10 syllables and can either have an internal rhyme with itself--or have an internal rhyme with an internal rhyme in the fourth line.
Want to see examples? Click here to read about the gwawdodyn form.
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Here are the basic guidelines for the challenge:
- Challenge is free. No entry fee.
- Winner (and sometimes a runner-up or two) will be featured in a future issue of Writer's Digest magazine in the Poetic Asides column.
- Deadline: 11:59 p.m. (Atlanta, GA time) on August 31, 2013.
- Poets can enter as many gwawdodyns as they wish.
- Also, I will allow either variation of the gwawdodyn.
- Plus, I'll allow poets to string together up to five gwawdodyn stanzas together--if they wish. However, that's not a requirement; I'm totally fine with a well-written four-liner.
- All poems should be previously unpublished. If you have a specific question about your specific situation, then send me an e-mail at robert.brewer@fwmedia.com. But if you shared a gwawdodyn in the comments on the earlier post, I would NOT consider that previously published. However, if your gwawdodyn appeared in an online or print publication, that would be considered previous publication.
- I will only consider gwawdodyns shared in the comments on this specific post. It's too complicated to hunt them down elsewhere.
- Please include your name as you would like it to appear in the magazine (if your gwawdodyn is selected for publication).
- Have fun!
Quick note on commenting: If you are new to this site, your first comment won't show until it is approved by an editor (like myself). So if you post and it doesn't show, don't stress. It may take a day or two (especially on weekends), but it should go live eventually. After that first comment is approved, they should all display on the first attempt.
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Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Content Editor of the Writer's Digest Writing Community. In addition to editing Market Books (including Poet's Market and Writer's Market), he produces a free weekly newsletter, blog posts, poetry column for Writer's Digest magazine, judges contests, and a bunch of other fun stuff. Voted Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere in 2010, Brewer's debut, full-length poetry collection, Solving the World's Problems, will be released by Press 53 on September 1, 2013 (click to learn more). He's married to the poet Tammy Foster Brewer, who helps him keep track of their five little poets (four boys and one princess). Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
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Read other poetic posts here:
- Securing Blurbs for a Poetry Collection. Part 4 of the 8-part series on getting a poetry collection published.
- Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 231. For more than 5 years, poets have been getting prompts from Poetic Asides--on Wednesdays.
- Melissa Carl: Poet Interview. The author of Brutal Allure shares her writing, publishing, and revision processes.
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.
