A short, strict-meter Welsh verse form, among the oldest fixed forms in the Welsh bardic tradition, governed by cynghanedd, the elaborate system of internal alliteration and consonance that defines classical Welsh poetics, and still composed and judged in competition today.
Facts
Place of OriginWales, attested from the early medieval period, among the oldest fixed forms of the Welsh bardic tradition. 1 StructureIn its most common form (englyn unodl union), four lines of 10, 6, 7 and 7 syllables, rhymed and governed throughout by cynghanedd sound-patterning. 1 Notable ExampleThe englynion of the medieval Canu Llywarch Hen and Canu Heledd cycles; englyn composition remains a competed discipline at the Welsh National Eisteddfod today. 1 Connections
Form Of Genre
Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
In the Other Atlases
Originated In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.
Sources
1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
Princeton University Press
Wikipedia: Englyn
Lead paragraph
The metre involves the counting of syllables, and rigid patterns of rhyme and half rhyme.
Early history
The englyn is found in the work of the earliest attested Welsh poets (the cynfeirdd), where the main types are the three-line englyn milwr and englyn penfyr.
View the SourceReader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.