Englyn Cyrch: Poetic Forms
Poetic Form Fridays are made to share various poetic forms. This week, we look at the englyn cyrch, a Welsh quatrain form that incorporates both end and internal rhymes.
Englyn Cyrch Poems
The englyn cyrch is a Welsh form, and one of several "englyn" forms. It has the following guidelines:
- poem comprised of quatrains (from one quatrain to infinity) or 4-line stanzas
- 7 syllables per line
- lines 1, 2, and 4 end rhyme with each other
- line 3 rhymes with a syllable somewhere in the middle of the 4th line
Note on englyns: There appear to be 9 variations of englyns. We'll get to them all in good time on this blog.
*****
Master Poetic Forms!
Learn how to write sestina, shadorma, haiku, monotetra, golden shovel, and more with The Writer’s Digest Guide to Poetic Forms, by Robert Lee Brewer.
This e-book covers more than 40 poetic forms and shares examples to illustrate how each form works. Discover a new universe of poetic possibilities and apply it to your poetry today!
*****
Here’s my attempt at an englyn cyrch:
love's return, by Robert Lee Brewer
Tell me who you'd like to be
as we run through Tennessee
looking for a chance to make
something fake something we flee
as if running helps at all
in the spring or in the fall
when life seems most apt to change
and arrange for us to stall
for our love is quick to burn
and was made to always yearn
for a day that never yields
the soft fields of love's return.
