Cyrch Gymeriad

Earliest strata of British Celtic poetry #1: cyrch gymeriad (wreathing).

Information provided by Gary Kent Spain.

In Welsh, cymeriad (‘memory’) refers to repetition of the same word or syllable, often at the start of successive lines.  Cyrch gymeriad means what we call ‘wreathing’, that is, to repeat the word or syllable ending one line (or line segment) at or near the start of the next (see below).  It can involve meaning as well, that is, synonyms.

Your prompt is to assemble short (roughly two-stress) line segments of 3-6 syllables (mostly 3-4 if possible) into at least two longer lines (printed as stanzas) that rime on the last syllable (stressed or not), and to link each line segment with its neighbors by one (or more) of the following techniques:

1.  Cymeriad (beginning with the same word or syllable, or a homophone or synonym)

2.  Cyrch gymeriad (word or syllable repetition linking end of one with start of next)

3.  Alliteration, or consonance (repetition of two or more sounds of a word, can both be consonant sounds or one can be a vowel sound)

4.  Rimed syllable, which even should it occur at the ends of two successive line segments still constitutes ‘internal’ rime, since more than one make up the complete ‘line’ (i.e. stanza)

...again, the cymeriad may involve homophones (different words that sound the same) or synonyms, in addition to actual repetition.

Schematic, where each letter represents a syllable, x = unlinked, lower case (abc etc.) rimed, upper case (ABC etc.) repeated (cymeriad)—spaces separate words, bold and italics (alternating) indicate alliteration, and underlinedindicates a proper name.

x  A-B / B  A-c

xxx  C / C  DD

DD  EE / EE  xf

G-GG  f / G-GG  H

H  xx / f   x  xH

x  x-xx / x-x-x-h

x  xxi / x x i / x-x  h

Example Poem

Abalone abound

bound below to rocks;

rocked not by salty waves

but safety waived by men.

Men- selfish divers

"shell-fish dinners" served as

dining divers' can.

Bountiful before man

manufactured- gear

that fractured, broke the ban

banning air- breathing man.

Man equipped to submerge

then eclipsed by base urge-

Urgent need for meals

of otters, and seals.

Tasting abalone,

Shellfish about alone

in taste, attests to why-

Why we've failed fishing ban.

© Lawrencealot - July 13, 2013

I have provided a Visual Template below that shows my attempt at various linkages.

Unfortunately, I could not make this schematic fit the example poem provide, and pretty much believe it is UNREALISITIC to assume a template can be constructed since almost everything is optional, from line-length to type of linkage.