Awdl
An awdl is a Welsh ode. Awdlau (that's the plural)
come in twelve different varieties, and it will take me a while to get through
them all (if I ever do). All the poems on this page will be awdlau.
There are 24 Welsh standard verse forms altogether. The
other twelve are made up of eight kinds of englyn and four kinds of cywydd.
One important reservation: I believe all
Welsh-language awdlau are required to exhibit some kind of cynghanedd in
every line. In the descriptions below, this will not be mentioned (and in the
examples, I will not attempt it). It is just too difficult and complicated for
us non-Celts. If you really want to get to grips with this, I recommend the
book Singing in
Chains (see books page).
As Confucius once remarked, the page of a dozen awdlau begins
with a single form:
Hir
a Thoddaid
According to Singing in Chains, the Hir a Thoddaid is
the most common form of awdl nowadays. Here's a silly example:
Lovesick
I take back what I said about your
knees -
They hardly knock at all. Forgive
me, please.
My meaning and my words are chalk
and cheese.
I love to cuddle you. You’re not
obese.
I have caught a rare disease of the
heart
When I see you I start to want to
sneeze.
I didn’t mean to speak ill of your
chin.
In pointing out it emphasised how
thin
Your body was, I thought I’d make
you grin.
Is paying you such compliments a
sin?
I see I’ll have to discipline my
tongue -
The songs I would have sung must
stay within.
I’m sure that I did not suggest
your arms’
Uneven lengths failed to augment
your charms.
Believe me, love, they caused me no
alarms.
I’ve seem far worse on girls from
local farms.
A little skewness often calms me
down.
So please, my love, don’t send
round the gendarmes.
I never did complain about your
nose,
Although it’s quite surprising that
you chose
That singular proboscis. I suppose
It makes you quite distinctive,
like your clothes.
More easily described in prose than
verse,
You’re better active, worse when in
repose.
And darling, though it’s true I
said you smelt,
I meant “of roses”, honestly! I’d
spelt
It out clearly. I don’t know why
you felt
That I’d been less than kind.
You’re sweet, you’re svelte,
My poor heart raced when I knelt to
request
Your hand. Your bum’s the best I’ve
ever felt.
Each line has 10 syllables - in no particular metre,
though I seem to have lapsed into iambic pentameter here. All lines of each
stanza, except for the penultimate one, rhyme together in the conventional way.
The penultimate line rhymes with them all in an unconventional way - its seventh,
eighth or ninth syllable contains the
rhyme. Furthermore, the word at the end of the penultimate line rhymes with a
word somewhere in the middle of the last line. In the first stanza above, for
example, there's disease/sneeze and heart/start.
The first 4 lines are the hir, and the last two
are the toddaid (which mutates to thoddaid when you
put the phrase together, due to the endearing pecularities of the Welsh
language). The hir can have 2 lines or 6, rather than the 4 used here,
but all its lines must always rhyme together.
The books by Hopgood and Skelton agree about this form, and that's good enough for
me. Some sites on the web say the last line should have only 9 syllables, but I
suspect they are wrong.
Pasted
from <http://volecentral.co.uk/vf/awdl.htm>
And if you don't
believe CYNGHAHEDD makes this difficult poetry to write, with the expertise to
determine is praiseworthy or even correct limited to a few Welsh and a very few
other poets, take a look at what Wikipedia has to say about it
I have found little
joy in reading such poems as they almost always appear stilted.
So I am (after
viewing others) going with Bob Newman's interpretation and recommendation - let
those writing in English write enjoyable poetry.
Here is my example poem:
Crinoline Tease (Hir a Thoddaid)
You dressed in fancy silks and satin clothes
and feather boas, hats, and nylon hose,
and crinoline as well to augment those.
and not in frequently you would expose
a flash of flesh to decompose a guest.
I liked that best, and therefore I proposed.
Somehow you liked me wearing my plainclothes.
You ate me up with eyes just like a doe's.
When we're together we forget our woes
I thrill to sit nearby when you repose
and lean and touch you with my nose and lips
and touch your breast and hips while still you pose.
© Lawrencealot - December 26, 2013
and feather boas, hats, and nylon hose,
and crinoline as well to augment those.
and not in frequently you would expose
a flash of flesh to decompose a guest.
I liked that best, and therefore I proposed.
Somehow you liked me wearing my plainclothes.
You ate me up with eyes just like a doe's.
When we're together we forget our woes
I thrill to sit nearby when you repose
and lean and touch you with my nose and lips
and touch your breast and hips while still you pose.
© Lawrencealot - December 26, 2013
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