13 Welsh Poetic Forms
Here are 13 Welsh poetic forms and how to write them. From the awdl gywydd to the rhupunt and several poem types in between.
Here are 13 Welsh poetic forms and how to write them. From the awdl gywydd to the rhupunt and several poem types in between.
I've been covering poetic forms on this blog for more than a decade now. Long enough to make lists of poetic forms that originated in various regions, like the 13 Welsh poetic forms I've collected below. There are two things I especially enjoy about Welsh forms: 1. They're often fun technical challenges of rhyming; and 2. People often ask me how to pronounce them.
Click on each link below to learn how to write them.
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13 Welsh Poetic Forms
- Awdl Gywydd. 4-liner with 7-syllable lines.
- Byr a Thoddaid. Quatrain with alternating internal couplets.
- Clogyrnach. 6-liner with an ab rhyme scheme.
- Cyhydedd Fer. Couplet form with 8 syllables per line and aa end rhyme.
- Cyhydedd Hir. Quatrain form with 5 syllables in 3 lines and 4 in the other.
- Cyhydedd Naw Ban. 9 syllable lines with an even number of lines per stanza.
- Cyrch a Chwta. Octave stanzas with end rhymes and cross rhymes.
- Cywydd Llosgyrnog. Six lines and variable line lengths.
- Englyn Byr Cwca. Tercet form with variable lines and rhymes.
- Englyn Cyrch. 4-liner with 7-syllable lines--but not the awdl gywydd.
- Gwawdodyn. Quatrain form with an ab rhyme scheme.
- Hir a Thoddaid. 6-liner with a mostly consistent syllable count and end rhyme.
- Rhupunt. A form with a lot of options available.
Check these forms out, try them for fun, and let me know which is your favorite in the comments below. Or let me know of Welsh forms I still have yet to cover (like the tawddgyrch cadwynog).
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.
