Structure, Metrical Requirement, Rhyme Scheme Requirement, Other Requirement, Stanzaic

A Welsh syllabic quatrain form. It consists of two couplets, either of which can appear as the first couplet of the stanza. One couplet consists of two eight-syllable lines that rhyme with each other. The other couplet consists of one ten-syllable line and one six-syllable line. The ten-syllable line has a rhyme before the end in the seventh, eighth, or ninth syllable that rhymes with the end of the six-syllable line. Syllables after the rhyme will have some correspondence with the beginning of the six-syllable line. This corresponence might be alliteration, rhyme or assonance.

Both the Welsh and the French were so inventive with their prosody that it's no wonder that the Anglo-Saxons came to dominate the world rather than either of these two groups.

Welsh

A byr a thoddaid verse might look like:

xxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxbx1
x1xxxb

or

xxxxxxxbx1
x1xxxb
xxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxa

where the 1 represents the association through 
assonance, alliteration, or rhyme. 
The “a” and “b” are the more normal rhymes.

4

Hir a Thoddaid

Incomplete