Lethrannaegecht Mor: Poetic Forms
Poetic Form Fridays are made to share various poetic forms. This week, we look at the lethrannaegecht mor, which is an Irish quatrain form.
The lethrannaegecht mor is an Irish poetic form with the following guidelines:
- Quatrain (or four-line) poem (or stanzas).
- Rhyme scheme: abcb
- Five syllables per line.
- Assonance (or repetition of vowel sounds) in the first two lines of each stanza.
- The end word of the third line rhymes with a word in the middle of the fourth line (and if it doesn't, then the "a" and "c" words should consonate with the "b" words).
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Play with poetic forms!
Poetic forms are fun poetic games, and this digital guide collects more than 100 poetic forms, including more established poetic forms (like sestinas and sonnets) and newer invented forms (like golden shovels and fibs).
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Here’s my attempt at a lethrannaegecht mor:
The Good Prince, by Robert Lee Brewer
Since I met the prince
from whence he once pranced,
I followed his song
along where he danced.
He juggled and jumped
just because he could
and never did bad--
so glad to be good.
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
