In Welsh-language poetry, cynghanedd (, literally "concinnity"From Celtic *kom-kanii̯ā, cf. Latin , according to the Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru. or "harmony") is the concept of sound-arrangement within one line, using stress, alliteration and rhyme. The various forms of are used in all formal Welsh verse forms, such as the , and . developed gradually over the period 1100–1350; by the middle of the 14th century it had developed into a fixed system with four recognised types: , and .Parry, Thomas (1961). "The Welsh metrical treatise attributed to Einion Offeriad". (British Academy documents), p. 183. The system of strict () is particularly associated with the poets of the period c. 1330–1640.J. Morris-Jones (1925), , p. xviii. From the 15th century onwards it became a requirement for serious poetry that virtually every line should have one or other of the four types of .
Though of ancient origin, and variations of it are still used today by many Welsh-language poets. A number of poets have experimented with using in English-language verse, for instance Gerard Manley Hopkins.Lilly, G. (1943). "The Welsh Influence in the Poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins". The Modern Language Review, 38(3), 192-205. Some of Dylan Thomas's work is also influenced by .
Forms of cynghanedd The four main forms of are the following:
: In this, most or all of the consonants of the first half of the line (except usually the last) are repeated in the same order in the second half. The consonants must be arranged in the same way around the stressed vowel in each half:
: In this, the consonants in the first section of the line are repeated at the end of the line, but there are some unmatched consonants in the centre of the line:
: In this, the line is divided into three parts. Parts 1 and 2 rhyme, and parts 2 and 3 are linked by the repetition of at least one consonant:
: In this, the ending of a word earlier in the line rhymes with the stressed penultimate syllable of a polysyllabic word at the end of the line. There is no alliteration:
The above forms apply in any metre. The following applies only in certain metres, such as the stanza-form :
: The consonants in the last word or words of a line are repeated at the beginning or in the middle of the following line.
The term ["consonantal "] refers to any kind of consonantal , including and .
Because the noun is feminine, the descriptors and are mutated to and when they follow it.
Examples in this article
can be applied to lines of any length, but in this article, most of the illustrative examples are from the commonly used seven-syllable metre, popularised by Dafydd ap Gwilym in the 14th century. In a poem, nearly every line has some form of , but the poet is free to use the different types in random order.
Note that ⟨dd⟩, ⟨ll⟩ and ⟨ch⟩ are digraphs in the Welsh alphabet, each representing a single consonant /ð/, /ɬ/ and /χ/ respectively.
In ("cross-harmony"), a line is divided into two roughly equal halves, by a caesura or break; in a seven-syllable line with , this caesura is usually after the 3rd syllable, but sometimes after the 2nd or 4th. With certain exceptions, all the consonants in the first half of the line are repeated in the second half in the same order. However, the consonants at the very end of each half of the line must be different.
The stressed vowels also play a role, in that those consonants which precede and follow the main stressed vowel in the first half of the line must do the same in the second half. (The main stressed vowel in each half is considered to be the last stressed vowel in each half line.) The main stressed vowel of each half must be different, but vowels other than those under the main stresses may be of any kind.
The caesura or break () between the two halves of the line in is often marked by a break in sense; but in some lines the words flow on smoothly without any pause, especially in the kind called "linked" ().J. Morris-Jones (1925), , pp. 148, 159.
Classification There are three main different types of , classified according to whether the last syllable in each half-line is stressed or unstressed. Three types are permitted: stressed ending + stressed, unstressed ending + unstressed, and stressed ending + unstressed.This division into types 1, 2, and 3 follows R. M. Loomis (1982). Dafydd ap Gwilym: The Poems: Translation and Commentary (Binghamton, New York), p. 23. The fourth type, unstressed + stressed, is not used in or , but is found in .
A stressed ending in either half of the line is usually a monosyllable; but it can also be a polysyllable stressed on the final, such as ("ever before"), ("afternoon") or ("Cardiff").
Type 1 The simplest and most common kind of is a line where both halves of the line end in a stressed syllable. This type is known as ["balanced, accented "].Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru, s.v. . In this type the consonants are repeated only up as far as the stressed vowel, but not usually after it. A seven-syllable line may be divided 3 syllables + 4, or 4 syllables + 3.
The example below, taken from Dafydd ap Gwilym (14th century), has the consonantal pattern {N D [stress]} in both halves:
The second, also by Dafydd ap Gwilym, has the more complex pattern {G R Dd D R [stress]} in both halves, as in this line describing the wind:
Occasionally the break may be found after the fourth syllable, as in the following example, which has the pattern {L L M [stress]} in both halves:
The break may also be found after the second syllable, but this is rare:
When the word carrying the stress in the first half starts with a vowel or a semivowel with no consonant immediately preceding, the matching word in the second half often also starts with a vowel or semivowel, as if the vocalic onset itself was the equivalent of a consonant. The following example from Dafydd ap Gwilym reports the words of an angry husband chasing Dafydd:
Another example from the same poem is the following line describing icicles:
It can be seen from these examples that the secondary stresses (e.g. ) do not affect the position of the consonants in the . It is only the last stress in each half of the line which is taken into account.
Type 2 In a second type, known as ["balanced, unaccented "],J. Morris-Jones (1925), , p. 158. both halves of the line end in feminine ending with unstressed final. Here the consonants both before and after the stressed vowel are repeated, but the consonants at the very end of each half must not match. Again, the line may be divided 3 + 4, or 4 + 3. The first example below, by Dafydd ap Gwilym, is divided 3 syllables + 4, and has the pattern {H L B R [stress] N W}:
The following is by Dafydd ab Edmwnd (15th century), with consonants {B N F [stress] L}:
Occasionally with type 2 the break is found after the fourth syllable. The following has the pattern {Ll R I [stress] N G}:
If the stressed vowel in the first half is followed by a vowel or semivowel, the corresponding stressed vowel in the matching word in the second half is likewise followed by a vowel or semivowel, as in this example by Dafydd ap Gwilym. Here the pattern is {G R [stress] [vowel]}:J. Morris-Jones (1925), , p. 146.
This type with an unstressed ending in each half of the line is less common than type 1.
Type 3 In the third type of , known as ["descending unbalanced "],J. Morris-Jones (1925), Cerdd Dafod. p. 147. the first half-line ends in a monosyllable, and the second half in a polysyllable stressed on the penultimate. (The reverse, namely unstressed + stressed ( ["raised, unbalanced "]), is not found in although it is common in .) Here the division of the line must be 3 syllables + 4.
In this type, any consonants immediately following the stressed vowel are repeated in both halves. An example is this line by Dafydd ap Gwilym from his poem The Seagull, which repeats the seven consonants {D R N F L H [stress] L}:
In the following line in the same way all the consonants of the first half, {C R Dd W [stress] S}, are repeated in the same order in the second half; but the second in the word is not used:
If the monosyllable at the end of the first half has no consonant after the stressed vowel, the polysyllable at the end of the second line should also have no consonant (or only a semivowel) after its stressed vowel, as in this line by Tudur Aled (16th century), in which the pattern is {G Ll M [stress]}:J. Morris-Jones (1925), , p. 148.
If the stressed vowel in the first half is followed by two different consonants, both consonants may be echoed in the second half, as in this line attributed to Wiliam Llŷn (16th century):J. Morris-Jones (1925), Cerdd Dafod, p. 147.
In other lines of this kind, however, in combinations such as , , etc., where in spoken language an epenthetic vowel may be added between the consonants, the second consonant after the stressed vowel in the first half is often omitted from the , as in this line by Tudur Aled (16th century), in which the of is ignored:J. Morris-Jones (1925), Cerdd Dafod, pp. 148–9.
This is known as ("truncated head ").
Unmatched consonants
In there are in principle no consonants in the second half of the line which are not part of the consonantal echoing, apart from the consonant or consonants at the very end of the line. However, there are certain exceptions to this rule: for example, the consonant and the semivowels and (as in ) can optionally be ignored.
For example, in the following line by Tudur Aled, the in both halves is unmatched, the pattern being {R [stress] N}:
One regular feature of is that the first of either half can be ignored.J. Morris-Jones (1925), , pp. 151–2, 160. Thus in the following line by Wiliam Llŷn (16th century), the first is ignored in the pattern {Ll [stress] DR}:
In the following line by Dafydd ap Gwilym, in which the pattern in each half is {H R Dd C [stress]}, the first of the second half is omitted from the :
Lines like the above, with an ignored at the beginning of the second half, are considered to be a case of "lost in the middle" () rather than .J. Morris-Jones (1925), , pp. 151–2.
The consonant can also sometimes be ignored,Morris-Jones (1925), p. 200. for example in the following line, where the pattern is {P N Dd [stress] L}:
Occasionally a consonant at the end of the first half-line can be used to complete the pattern of the second half. This is known as ["cross harmony from linking"]J. Morris-Jones (1925), , p. 157–60. Thus in the following line, by the early 19th-century poet Dewi Wyn o Eifion, the consonantal pattern in the first half is {F R [stress] N}. The letter of is used to make the same pattern in the second half. (The consonant is ignored.)
first became common about the middle of the 15th century. There are no certain instances of it in the 14th century.dafyddapgwilym.net dafyddapgwilym.net: Authorship, p. 16. Thus a line such as the following by Dafydd ap Gwilym should probably be taken as an example of unanswered initial rather than assuming that the consonants are {N Th L [stress] S} with linking:
In the following line of the 15th-century poet Guto'r Glyn the pattern is {R CR [stress] [vowel]}. The at the end of is carried forward to complete the pattern in the second half:J. Morris-Jones (1925), , p. 158.
In the following line, by Dewi Wyn o Eifion, two consonants, and , are adopted from the first section into the second to make the pattern {D L R G [stress] N} in both halves:
Occasionally the same consonant is needed for the pattern in both halves of the line. In the following example by Gwilym ab Ieuan Hen (15th century), the from is used twice, once to complete the pattern {N D S [stress] N} in the first half, and again to start the same pattern in the second half:
Similarly in the following line by R. Williams Parry (20th century), the ⟨m⟩ of is used twice to create the pattern {M L S M [stress]} in both halves:Hammond, M. (2012). "The phonology of Welsh cynghanedd". Lingua, 122(4), 386-408.