Language Garden Early Irish Poetry Puzzle

What does a stanza look like in Old Irish Poetry?

A stanza normally consists of four lines, which are connected to one another through
patterns of RHYMING FEATURES, such as FULL END RHYME, FULL INTERNAL RHYME, HALF
RHYME, and ALLITERATION.
Each line normally has a fixed amount of SYLLABLES in it, and the last word of each line also
has a fixed number of SYLLABLES. For instance, the word table has two syllables: ta ble.
Different patterns of RHYMING FEATURES are called METRES. Each poem is composed
according to the rules of a METRE. You can identify them by their unique combination of
SYLLABIC STRUCTURE and RHYMING FEATURES.

Can you give me an example?

Do/ uc/tha /i /car/craibh,
i crochaibh as ENNATH ,
it sloigh oca sinnadh,
iarna foebhraibh f ENNADH .

Yes! The stanza on the left is written in the METRE

RINNARD, which, in this stanza, uses FULL RHYME, half
rhyme and alliteration to connect the lines. Typically,
this metre connects line B with line D with FULL RHYME,
line C with half rhyme OR full internal rhyme and uses
alliteration to connect words within a line. Each line is
also exactly 6 syllables and ends with a two-syllable
word. I have marked the syllables for you in line A.

So what can you rhyme in Old Irish?

This is where it gets tricky! In English you rhyme words which
sound the same, but in Old Irish you can rhyme words with
CONSONANTS OF THE SAME CLASS AND QUALITY, and with the
SAME STRESSED VOWELS. The consonants dont have to be
identical!!! Check out the consonant classes on the right!

1. b d g
2. p t c(=k)

So what is quality? This is when a consonant is heavy or light

(we call this palatal and non-palatal). Think of the heavy L in
full and the light l in line. The i in cleith tells you th is light.

3a

( voiceless)

3b

(voiced)

Examples of full rhyme:

4.

cleith : beich

(heavy )

ph(f) th ch

bh mh dh gh l n r

ll m(m) nn ng rr

nobhe : ndone ruiri : guidhi nlaib : rraib

!! You can ignore the vowels in the 2nd syllable: they are not stressed!

It is even tricker with half rhyme: in this case consonants at the

end of the word can rhyme if they are OF THE SAME CLASS (BUT
NOT QUALITY), and vowels can rhyme when they are OF THE
SAME LENGTH (BUT NOT IDENTICAL).

5. s

TIP: mostly you will find the rhyme is

between consonants of class 3a or 3b!

Examples: sethu : rgu rgaib : dlaib teined : calad

Now that you know what to look for can you piece a stanza together?
TIPS: 1. Count the syllables! 2. Put the rhyming words in place first (at the end of line B and D)!