Toddaid: Poetic Forms
Poetic Form Fridays are made to share various poetic forms. This week, we look at the toddaid, a Welsh poetic form.
Poetic Form Fridays are made to share various poetic forms. This week, we look at the toddaid, a Welsh poetic form.
Toddaid Poems
The toddaid is a Welsh poetic form comprised of quatrains (or four-line stanzas).
Here are the simplest guidelines:
- Comprised of quatrains (or four-line stanzas).
- Lines one and three have 10 syllables; lines two and four have nine syllables.
- Lines two and four end rhyme.
- A syllable near the end of line one rhymes with a syllable in the middle of line two.
- A syllable near the end of line three rhymes with a syllable in the middle of line four.
Note on length: Toddaid can be as concise as one stanza (like my example below) or run on for multiple stanzas.
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Here’s my attempt at a toddaid:
Nocturne, by Robert Lee Brewer
When the winter breaks into confusion,
you can fuse a fast and simple rhyme
to an image of silent snow and moon
illuminating shadows sublime.
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.
