Poetry Place Collected Poems

Time to Choose Snam suad

Time to Choose

Time to choose
Watch the news
Must decide
Election
It will be
Up to me
Hard to plea
Reflection

n its defined form, Snám Suad is:
1. an octave, each line measured 3 syllables;
2. rhymed aabcdddc;
3. anchored at L4 and L8 with 3 syllabic words;
4. written in cywddydd and dunadh.
F

The Snam Suad is an ancient Irish form of eight lines with three syllables per line. The rhyme scheme is aabcdddc with harmonic sounds and the last line repeating the first, as described and demonstrated in the following links:

https://wordwool.com/snam-suad-poem-type/


• LatestSnam Suad Poetry Form: Swirl Rhymes Into Life

By Word Wool's Team
|
Updated on December 14, 2023
• Facebook
• Pinterest
• Flipboard
Here’s what the Snam Suad poetry form is:
The snam suad is an eight-line Irish poem form with an aabcdddc rhyme scheme.
It has exactly 24 syllables (three per line) and generally attempts to follow Irish traditions such as cywddydd (harmony of sound) and the inclusion of dunadh (a type of refrain).
So if you want to learn all about the Snam Suad poetry type, then you’ve come to the right place.
Let’s get right into it!
• Treochair Poetry Form: Set Your Heart Adrift

Forms of Poetry: The Snam Suad


The snam suad is a short Irish verse form with an emphasis on rhyme.
Irish poem forms routinely focus on the sound of the poem and have musical qualities to them.
The 24-syllable snam suad, incredibly short when compared to other Irish forms, maintains these qualities.
The emphasis on sound is so important, in fact, that there is a specific word for it: cywddydd.

This word essentially means “harmony of sound” and is an expected quality of various Irish forms.
It refers, roughly, to the unique blend of alliteration, rhyme, and phonetic patterns that lend Irish forms their semi-musical properties.
English sources do not all agree on what qualities a snam suad should and should not have, so it should be understood that this article only represents a general definition that will be mostly accurate by comparison.
In order to get a perfectly accurate description, we would need to find where the form was first codified, but even then it would raise questions about whether that definition matches the modern definition.
Older poem forms can be irritating in that sense.
Basic Properties of the Snam Suad
Meter Syllabic
Origin Ireland
Popularity Uncommon
Theme Varies
How Is a Snam Suad Structured?


The snam suad is an eight-line poem (an octostich) that has three syllables per line.
This makes it incredibly short by the typical standards of Irish poetry, at a mere 24 total syllables.
As a result, the poem often only has room for a single thought or moment.
Lines four and eight are expected to be three-syllable words.
The remaining lines usually end in monosyllabic words, but there are examples online that buck this tradition.
There is one complication in the form, and that is the traditional dunadh, a type of refrain.
Usually the dunadh refers to a repetition of the beginning of the poem at the end.
The form expects the first line to have a monosyllabic ending but to achieve dunadh with the final line, which is a three-syllable word.
In English, this should be impossible, but there are some clever workarounds.
“Cats can play” and “cattiness” both revolve around the word “cat” so even though it’s a bit of a cheat, examples like this one can work to at least get off the intended effect of the dunadh, even if it’s not exactly a true repetition.
The defined form has a rhyme scheme of aabcdddc.
Since the form enforces rhyme on each of its short lines, it can be rather demanding.
Most English snam suads will not try to fit anything particularly deep or meaningful in the poem, focusing on just the images and sound of the poem.
In Irish examples you would also expect plenty of alliteration across the lines, but this poem form doesn’t translate especially well to English to begin with so we do need to acknowledge that some concessions are usually made in its structure.
English variants of the snam suad are, by their very nature, more of an imitation than they are true examples of the form.