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CONTENTS |
IntroductionOne point must be emphasised, the bard served a hard and difficult apprenticeship where memory and accuracy of story and form was constantly being tested. These poets were imaginative, intelligent as well as gifted. They did have one advantage however and that is of the spoken language. The language they spoke lent itself to natural rhythm and rhyme and possibly alliteration and consonance. When the Christians invaded the British Isles they also introduced the written word and also a corruption of indigenous forms by the introduction of their foreign forms, but at least some of the forms managed to survive because of them being eventually written down. It appears that the Manx Bardic poetry and that of Cornwall completely disappeared if indeed it ever existed. It might be safe to assume that they were in turn influenced by the Irish or Welsh. The Viking invaders and Phoenician traders also influenced the Celts at point of contact. The influence of the Anglo-Saxon invaders had little effect on the Welsh and Irish and consequently the Scots who were influenced by the Irish. When I first started researching these poetry forms I contacted Lewis Turco about his research and we came to agreement that as we were both away from point of contact about these poetic forms and perhaps by opening it up in an Internet Poetry Forum it would be possible for expert individuals to have a welcome input into the subject. Most of the forms used here are from Lewis Turco's latest book of forms and he assures me he is as hungry for further information about these forms as I am, in particular Cornish and Manx.
Historical BackgroundThe high status of poets within Celtic societies is well attested and was maintained down to the
seventeenth or eighteenth centuries. In Gaelic societies the name for a poet, file (or filid - plural),
is derived from a root word meaning "to see". Celtic poets may be better known as bards and though the
Irish and Scottish peoples poets also came to be known as either file or bard, originally there was a
distinction in rank between the two with the hereditary file having the higher status and greater
training. |
IRISH POETRY FORMSIt is important to remember that Irish poetry is cyclic and the last line should end with the first syllable word or the complete line.
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Each stanza is a quatrain of seven syllables. Lines two and four rhyme and lines one and three consonate with them. There are at least two cross-rhymes* in each couplet. In the first couplet, this isn't necessarily exact. The final syllable of line four alliterates* with the preceding stressed word.
Each stanza is a quatrain of seven syllables. Light rhyming in couplets. Alliteration between two words in each line, the final word of line four alliterating with the preceding stressed word. There are at least two cross-rhymes between three and four.
A loose stanza form. Each line can have from nine to thirteen syllables, and it always ends in a trisyllabic word. There is rhyming between lines one and three, two and four, etc. Stanzas can have any number of quatrains. There are at least two cross-rhymes in each couplet and alliteration in each line; usually the final word of the line alliterates with the preceding stressed word, and this is always true of the last line.
Similar to Rannaicheacht Mhor except lines one and three have eight syllables and two and four have six syllables.
A quatrain stanza with uneven lines. The first line has three syllables, the other three have seven. The stanza rhymes a a b a, with a cross-rhyme between three and four.
A quatrain stanza of heptasyllabic lines consonating abab. There are at least two cross-rhymes in each couplet and the final word of line three rhymes with a word in the interior of line four. In the second couplet, the rhymes must be exact, but the first couplet need only consonate.
a quatrain stanza of hexasyllabic lines with disyllabic endings. Lines two and four rhyme, and three consonates with them. There are two cross rhymes in the second couplet, none in the first. There is alliteration in each line, and the last syllable of line one alliterates with the first accented word of line two. There are two cross-rhymes in the second couplet.
A quatrain stanza of alternating octosyllabic lines with disyllabic endings and heptasyllabic lines with monosyllabic endings. Lines two and four rhyme, line three rhymes with the stressed word preceding the final word of line four. There are two cross-rhymes in the second couplet. There is alliteration in each line, the final word of line four alliterating with the preceding stressed word. The final syllable of line one alliterates with the first stressed word of line two.
A quatrain stanza of alternating eight syllable lines and four syllable lines with two syllable endings. Lines two and four rhyme, line three consonates with both. All words in the final line must rhyme line, the final word of line four alliterating with the preceding stressed word.
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