Welsh Bardic Verse Lesson 11

Lesson 11

Cyhydedd Hir and Rhupunt

(XV) Cyhydedd Hir: With the cyhydedd hir, or “long center,” we move away from simple couplets and engage with more complex structures.  The cyhydedd hir is another example of how rhythm and rhyme can weave words together into twisting braids.  I think of this as the literary version of the “Celtic snap” found in music.  Once the trick has been learned, mate it with different types of couplets to construct the most complex metrical forms a bard may master.  Don’t worry.  We’re not quite there, yet, but the time is coming.

For now, let us practice that “Celtic-snap,” by focusing on the cyhydedd hir.  In essence this is nineteen syllables.  It can be written as two lines, ten and nine syllables, but it benefits from a staccato delivery of five, five, five, and four.  The first three sections rhyme together and the fourth carries the main rhyme (connecting forward or back to a chain of couplets with which it has been paired).

5 syllables _ _ _ _ _ (rhyme A)

5 syllables _ _ _ _ _ (rhyme A)

5 syllables _ _ _ _ _ (rhyme A)

   4 syllables _ _ _ _ (rhyme B)

Let us find the light

Of wisdom tonight.

Hold it, bold and bright;

   An old, old book. 

(XVI) Rhupunt: The rhupunt is a close cousin of the cyhydedd hir.  It is just a little shorter and less formal.  For the rhupunt, there are three, four or five sections of four syllables each.  The first lines rhyme with each other.  The last line carries the main rhyme.  As in the cyhydedd hir, this main rhyme connects the verse to the chain of couplets with which it has been paired.

4 syllables _ _ _ _ (rhyme A)

4 syllables _ _ _ _ (rhyme A)

   4 syllables _ _ _ _ (rhyme B)

The harp string sang

The stone hall rang

   Dancers arose!

A bard may use a rhupunt or a cyhydedd hir on its own, but pairing them with strings of compatible couplets opens the door to complex awdl measures at the core of bardic poetry!