Connections

Week 3: Cywydd llosgymog

Emotional Trauma

Fluttering butterfly notion
Stomach tensely holds emotion
Tear oceans press violently
Words not wanting to have been heard
Her poor soft soul melting inward
He walks away absently

Form: Cywydd llosgyrnog (ku-with los-gear-nog)
Number of lines: Down to the individual poet
Rules: A 12th century Welsh form written in six-line stanzas. Each stanza is comprised of two lines of eight syllables and a third line of seven syllables. Lines 1 and 2 rhyme and cross-rhyme with syllable 3 or 4 of line 3. This pattern is then followed for the next three lines. Lines 3 and 6 also rhyme.

This gives a stanza pattern of:

x x x x x x x a
x x x x x x x a
x x a x x x b
x x x x x x x c
x x x x x x x c
x x c x x x b

Choices for the poets to make this week: This form can be composed of as many or as few stanzas as the poet wishes.

Furthe Details from tinker11: What the Garrett neglects to say about Cywydd Llosgrnog, the 12th Codified Welsh Meter of the 14th century, is the defining feature of the form is "cynghanedd" or harmony of sound, a liberal dose of alliteration, unexpected internal rhyme, assonance, and consonance. The ancient Welsh forms are a fun fest of complimenting sounds, expecially the 4 Cywydds.