Welsh Poetry - Forms

Forms

Since the later Middle Ages, the traditional Welsh poetic metres in strict verse consist of twenty four different metrical forms written in cynghanedd.

An awdl is a form of long poem, similar to the ode. The most popular metrical forms are the Cywydd, of 14th century origin, and the several versions of the Englyn, a concise and allusive verse form similar to the Greek epigram and the Japanese haiku and as old as Welsh literature itself.

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