The Language of Poetry

    When we talk about a poem, it is important to consider both form and
content.  To fully enjoy poetry, (especially Irish Poetry), it is necessary
to understand a little about Form Cineál -how the poem is shaped, how words
are emphasized, and the devices thatAiceanta are used to make it sound a
certain way.

    Metre Meadaracht is the way we count a line of poetry.  It is the
pattern that results when rhythm is organized. In English we use the word
³metre² only for Accentual Verse, Na Meadarachtaí Aiceanta, but in Irish the
term is also used for Syllabic Verse Na Meadarachtaí Siollacha.

Meadarachtaí Aiceanta: (Accentual or Rhythmic Metre). The word rhythm in
English comes from the Greek word meaning ³flow². In Irish it is called
Rithim from ³run².Rithim organizes a poem into a certain pattern, and that
pattern is measured by the amount of Feet Troighithe in each line.  A Troigh
is made up of a set number of accented syllables, mar shampla:

Om sceol ar ardmhaugh Fáil ní chaillais oíche

is a line composed of five feet (Pentameter), and each foot is made up of
two syllables with the accent an the second, (an iamb)or Iambic Pentameter
Peintiméadar Iambach.

    Until around the 8th century Irish poetry was accentual, but around then
it began to change (some think because of the influence of Laidin), and for
the next 5 or 6 centuries a line of poetry was measured by the amount of
syllables it contained: Na Meadarachtaí Siollacha.  In this form it does not
matter where the accent falls, only the number of syllables count.
    This form was developed in the Bardic schools and evolved into Dán
Díreach, an extremely difficult (to compose) and strict form of verse.  I am
going to talk about some of the ornaments ornáidí of Dán Díreach, because
the general terms are useful in describing all types of poetry, and also
because it will be interesting to see how these devices are used in certain
poems

Ornáidí:

1. Comhardach is the word for Irish Bardic Rhyme Rím. It means ³equalizing²
because it requires identify of vowels gutaí and agreement of class and
quality of the consonants cónsain that come after those vowels.  This,
basically, is what we mean when we think of rhyme, but not exactly. In
English we have to have perfect rhyme, the rhyming vowels and consonants
must be identical: ³moon² rhymes with ³spoon², but not with ³moor², because,
in the latter, the final consonants are not identical.
    Dán Díreach, however, does not require identity of consonants but
agreement in class and quality, and the consonants are divided into 6
classes:

b,d,g:
p,t,c:
ph(f),th.ch:
bh,mh,dh,gh,l,n,r:
ll,m(mm),nn,ng,rr:
s.
    Thus, in Dán Díreach, ³moon¹ rhymes with ³moor².

Aicill is the name of a type of Comhardach in which the final word of one
line rhymes with a word on the beginning or interior of the next:
    Cnoc lánmhar longhair líonmhar
    Paeon fhíonmhar fhonnmhar ághmar.

2. Amas (Assonance) requires identity of vowels but not of the consonants
that follow them. ³Neck² assonates with ³met², but not with ³moat²

3. Uaithne (Consonance), is the flip side of Amas. The final consonants of a
specific syllable must rhyme, but not the preceding vowels. ³Hail² and
³majestical² consonate. Dán Díreach had stricter rules whereby the vowels
had to be different but of the same quantity. (Fada le fada).

4. Uaim (Alliteration) This is also called head rhyme, because the initial
consonant or sound in a group of words is repeated throughout that group.
Only unaccented syllables can come between alliterated words. We see Uaim in
some of the earliest fragments of Irish Poetry:

    Úar ind adaig i Móin Mór
    feraid dertain ní deróil

In Meadarachtaí Aiceanta at least one Uaim is required in each verse rann.
Urú does not affect Uaim, and Séimhiú affects only ³f²,²p², and ³s². Under
lenition ³fh² is silent so Uaim counts for the sound following it.  ³Ph²
alliterates with itself or ³f². ³Sh² alliterates only with itself.

    Other, less difficult forms developed from Dán Díreach and those are the
forms we will be considering. Most of them contain at least some of the
ornaments we have mentioned above.