Cynghanedd

In Welsh-language poetry, cynghanedd (Welsh pronunciation: [kəŋˈhaneð], literally "concinnity"^[1] or "harmony") is the concept of sound-arrangement within one line, using stress, alliteration and rhyme. The various forms of cynghanedd show up in the definitions of all formal Welsh verse forms, such as the cywydd, awdl and englyn. Cynghanedd developed gradually over the period 1100–1350; by the middle of the 14th century it had developed into a fixed system.^[2] Though of ancient origin, cynghanedd and variations of it are still used today by many Welsh-language poets. A number of poets have experimented with using cynghanedd in English-language verse, for instance Gerard Manley Hopkins. Some of Dylan Thomas's work is also influenced by cynghanedd.

Different forms of cynghanedd are used in different metres. The forms described in this article apply especially to the commonly used seven-syllable cywydd metre, popularised by Dafydd ap Gwilym in the 14th century. In a cywydd poem, every line usually has some form of cynghanedd, but the poet is free to use the different types in random order.

Because the noun cynghanedd is feminine, the adjectives croes, traws and llusg are mutated to groes, draws and lusg. Note that ⟨dd⟩, ⟨ll⟩ and ⟨ch⟩ are digraphs in the Welsh alphabet, each representing a single consonant /ð/, /ɬ/ and /χ/ respectively.

The term cynghanedd gytsain ["consonantal cynghanedd"] refers to any kind of consonantal cynghanedd, including cynghanedd groes and cynghanedd draws.^[3]

In cynghanedd groes ("cross-harmony") all the consonants in the first half of the line are repeated in the second half in the same order. The same consonants which immediately precede and immediately follow the main stressed vowel in the first half must do the same in the second half. However, the word-final consonants of each half of the line must be different, as must the main stressed vowel of each half.

There are three main different types,^[4] called cynghanedd gytbwys acennog ["balanced, accented cynghanedd"], cynghanedd gytbwys diacen ["balanced, unaccented cynghanedd"], and cynghanedd anghytbys diacen ["unbalanced, unaccented cynghanedd"] respectively:^[3]

Type 1 The simplest kind of cynghanedd groes is a line where both halves of the line end in a stressed monosyllable. In this kind the consonants are repeated only up as far as the stressed vowel, but not usually after it. The line may be divided 3 syllables + 4, or (less usually) 4 syllables + 3. The examples below are taken from Dafydd ap Gwilym (14th century):

Agwrdd drwst / a gerdda draw ["A mighty commotion which passes yonder"]^[5]

Lawlaw â mi / lili mor ["Nearby me, lily of the sea"]^[6]

The main stressed vowel sometimes does not have a consonant immediately next to it:

Dagrau oer, / dagerau iâ ["Cold tears, daggers of ice"]^[7]

Type 2 In a second type, both halves of the line end in a polysyllable. Here the consonants both before and after the stressed vowel are repeated, but the consonants at the end of each half must not match. Again, the line may be divided 3 + 4, or (but much less commonly) 4 + 3:

Hwylbrenwyllt / heli bronwyn ["The wild-masted, white-breasted sea"]^[8]

Llywiwr iawngamp / llariangerdd ["Excellent ruler of gentle verse"]^[9]

This type with a polysyllabic stressed word in each half is less common than type 1.

Type 3 In the third type of cynghanedd groes the first half-line ends in a monosyllable, and the second half in a polysyllable. (The reverse, namely polysyllable + monosyllable, is not found in cynghanedd groes.) Here the division must be 3 syllables + 4.^[10] Any consonants immediately following the stressed vowel are repeated in both halves. An example is this line by Dafydd ap Gwilym from his poem The Seagull, which repeats the seven consonants {D R N F L H [stress] L}:

Darn fal haul / dyrnfol heli ["Like a piece of sun, a gauntlet of sea"]^[6]

In cynghanedd groes there are generally no consonants in the second half of the line which are not part of the consonantal echoing, apart from the consonant at the very end of the line. However, an initial ⟨n⟩ can be ignored; the consonants ⟨h, w⟩ and consonantal ⟨i̯⟩ (as in iach) can also optionally be ignored. Vowels other than those under the main stresses may be of any kind. In the following example from Gwilym ap Ieuan Hen, the repeated consonantal pattern is {D S [stress] N}, with the initial ⟨n⟩ ignored:

Nid o sôn / y daw synnwyr ["It is not from talk that sense comes"]^[11]

Sometimes a consonant which comes twice in succession in one half of the line corresponds to a single consonant in the other half, as in this line by Dafydd ap Gwilym, where the two ⟨r⟩s in the first half correspond to a single ⟨r⟩ in the second half, creating the pattern {G R(R) S [stress]}:

Gŵr eres wyd / garw ei sain ["You are a strange man, with a harsh voice"]^[8]

In the following, by Siôn Phylip (16th century), two ⟨r⟩s in the second half correspond to one in the first, creating the pattern {C R(R) D [stress] Ch}:

Crïwyd uwch / caer Rhydychen ["There was weeping above the wall of Oxford"]

Sometimes a consonant (or consonants) in the first half of a line can be borrowed or reused to complete the consonant pattern in the second half, as in the following line by R. Williams Parry, where the ⟨m⟩ of mi is used twice to create the pattern {M L S M [stress]}:^[10]

Melys i mi / lais y mor ["Sweet to me is the voice of the sea"]

In the following line ⟨f⟩ is borrowed from the first half-line to complete the pattern {F R [stress] N}. The consonant ⟨w⟩ is ignored:

Fair wennaf / o rianedd ["Mary, fairest of maidens"]^[12]

This type is known as cynghanedd groes o gyswllt.

In cynghanedd the pronunciation takes precedence over the spelling. Thus ⟨b+h⟩ and ⟨b+b⟩ are matched by ⟨p⟩, ⟨d+h⟩ and ⟨d+d⟩ are matched by ⟨t⟩ and so on.^[13] For example, in the following line by Ieuan Deulwyn (15th century), ⟨b+h⟩ corresponds to ⟨p⟩, making the pattern {H P [stress] R} in both halves of the line:

Heb hiraeth / – hi a'i peris ["Without longing – it is she who caused it"]

In this line of Lewis Glyn Cothi (16th century), ⟨t⟩ corresponds to ⟨d+d⟩, making the pattern {Ch T [stress]}:

Achau y tad, / o chaid dydd ["The ancestry of the father, if one had a day (to hear it)"]

It is assumed that the pronunciation of ⟨d d⟩ in this line was /t/ in the poet's day.

Occasionally, cynghanedd groes applies only to the first part of the line. This is known as cynghanedd groes bengoll^[3] ["headless cross harmony"], for example:

Lle tew / lletyau / mwyeilch ["Where there are dense abodes of blackbirds"]^[14]

Other lines are irregular because their consonantal patterns do not quite match. For example, the following line, describing the snout of a fox, has the pattern {G F L [stress] NW} in the first half but the slightly different pattern {G L F [stress] NW} in the second:

Gefel unwedd / gylfinwaed ["His bloodstained snout like pincers"]^[15]

The following is irregular, since ⟨r⟩ in the first half and ⟨l⟩ in the second half are both ignored, but the other consonants match:

Gŵyr ei ddrem gelu ei ddrwg ["His look knows how to hide his wickedness"^[16]

Lines such as the following, by Lewys Glyn Cothi (15th century), are also considered irregular since although the same consonants are used in both halves, they are arranged differently around the stressed vowels. Here the first half has the pattern {M R [stress] GR} but the second half has {M [stress] R GR}:^[10]

Mair o awgrym / yw Marg'red ["Margaret's name suggests Mary"]

Cynghanedd draws (partial "cross-harmony", literally, "traversing cynghanedd")^[3] resembles cynghanedd groes, except that there are consonants at the beginning of the second half of the line which are not present in the series of 'echoed' consonants. Cynghanedd draws appears in this line from R. Williams Parry:

Rhowch wedd wen / dan orchudd iâ ["Place a white face under a veil of ice"]

Here the consonant sequence {Rh Ch Dd [stress]} is repeated with different stressed vowels (short ⟨e⟩ and long ⟨â⟩). The ⟨n⟩ at the end of the first half plays no part in the cynghanedd: the line-final word iâ instead ends in a vowel; if this word also ended in an ⟨n⟩, there would be generic rhyme between the two words, which is not permitted in cynghanedd.

The {D N} of the word dan is also not part of the cynghanedd: this is the difference between cynghanedd groes and cynghanedd draws.

Even with a monosyllable at the end of each half, the consonant matching may continue after the stressed vowel if the final consonants are different:

Galw ar fun, / ddyn gŵyl, i'r fainc ["I called the maid, a bashful girl, to the bench"]^[17]

Similarly, when both halves may end in a polysyllable, the consonant-matching can continue to the end of the word, provided the very last consonant is different, as in this line of Dafydd ap Gwilym in praise of the month of May:

Cennad / nawugain cynnadl ["Messenger of ninescore trysts"]^[18]

There may be any number of unmatched consonants in the central part of the line, as long as the initial sequence of consonants and accent is repeated. An extreme possibility is the following line of Dafydd ap Gwilym's The Girls of Llanbadarn, where only one syllable is involved:

Pla / ar holl ferched y plwyf! ["A plague on all the girls of the parish!"]^[16]

Even a single consonant, preceding or following the stressed vowel, may be enough to satisfy the rules of cynghanedd draws, as in this line describing a woodcock:

O adar / gaeaf ydiw ["It is one of the birds of winter"]^[19]

As noted above, the pronunciation takes precedence over spelling. In the following line from Dafydd ap Gwilym, ⟨ph⟩ corresponds to ⟨ff⟩, and ⟨d+t⟩ corresponds to ⟨d+d⟩:

A'i phryd teg / yn lle'r ffrwd dau. ["And her fair form in place of your flood"]^[20]

In early poetry, ac "and" and nac "nor" were always pronounced with /g/,^[21] so these lines from Dafydd ap Gwilym have the consonant patterns {G [stress] D} and {G [stress] N}:

Ac adar / aml ar goedydd ["And many birds on trees"]^[18]

Nac unnos / o Forgannwg ["Nor (will I go) a single night from Glamorgan"]^[22]

Occasionally cynghanedd draws can spread over two lines, as in the couplet below from Dafydd ap Gwilym, addressed to the River Dyfi, where the pattern {M Ll [stress] Dd} is repeated in the first part of the second line. In addition the first line has a shortened cynghanedd lusg and the second has cynghanedd sain:

Ni' m lladdo / rhyfel / gelyn ["An enemy's war will not slay me"]
O' m lluddiud / i dud / y dyn ["If you prevent me from (reaching) that girl's land"]^[20]

In another type of consonantal cynghanedd, the cynghanedd applies in the centre of the line only. This is called cynghanedd braidd gyffwrdd (or gyfwrdd) ["cynghanedd barely touching"].^[23] It was common in earlier Welsh poetry but is not often found in Dafydd ap Gwilym and later poets. The following two lines both come from the same poem by Dafydd ap Gwilym in which he describes how while making love outdoors in winter he and his girlfriend were disturbed by a woodcock:

A fu ddim, / ddamwain breiddfyw ["Was there ever anything, season barely living"]^[19]

Gwnaeth fraw, / frychleidr anghyfrwys ["It caused a fright, the unsubtle speckled thief"]^[19]

Cynghanedd sain ("sound-harmony") is characterised by both internal rhyme and consonant-matching. If the line is divided into three sections by its two caesuras, the first and second sections rhyme, and the third section repeats the consonantal patterns of the second.

The simplest kind is when only one consonant is involved in alliteration between section 2 and 3, the other consonants being ignored, as in these lines by Dafydd ap Gwilym:

Dyddgu / â'r gwallt lliwddu / lledf ["Dyddgu with her smooth black hair"]^[24]

Lewpart / a dart / yn ei din ["A leopard with a dart in its backside"]^[25]

Usually the alliterating consonants precede the stressed vowel in each section as shown above. Less commonly the first alliterating consonant accompanies an unstressed vowel, as in the following example:

Fal fflamau / canhwyllau / cwyr ["Like flames of candles of wax"]^[26]

A more complex kind is where two or more consonants in section 2 are repeated in section 3, in the same way as in cynghanedd groes or cynghanedd draws. In the following example, by Dafydd ap Gwilym, the pattern {H [stress] L} is repeated:

Yr wybrwynt / helynt / hylaw ["O wind of the sky, whose course is free"]^[8]

The following line repeats the three consonants {H [stress] DR}:

Ef / yw gwynt hydref / hoedran ["That is the autumn wind of sadness"]^[27]

The following example repeats the three consonants {F [stress] RF}. It also shows that ⟨u⟩ and ⟨y⟩ in a word-final syllable can rhyme:

A chof fydd / Forfudd / f'eurferch ["And I will remember Morfudd my golden girl"]^[18]

The following line repeats four consonants {C R Dd [stress] R} of section 2 in section 3. In addition there is alliteration of {C} linking all three sections:

Cywion / cerddorion / caer dderw ["Chicks, musicians of the castle of oak"]^[14]

Occasionally, the rhyme can cover two syllables:

Caredig / urddedig / ddadl ["Affectionate dignified conversation"]^[18]

In the commonly used cywydd metre there is a requirement that one of the two lines of couplet must end with a stressed rhyming syllable and the other with an unstressed one. However, this rule does not apply to internal rhymes in cynghanedd sain, which can be stressed or unstressed at will.

As with cynghanedd groes, a consonant can be borrowed from the end of the previous part of the line to make up the pattern of consonants. So in this line by Dafydd ap Gwilym, the consonant pattern {F [stress] N} in -f ann- in part 3 is made by borrowing the f from the end of part two:

Oni chaf / fwynaf / annerch ["If I do not receive a most gentle greeting"]^[6]

Similarly in the following line, the first in Dafydd's poem Summer, the consonant pattern {L [stress] Dd} in -l eidd- and -l Add- is made each time using the last letter of the previous section:

Gwae ni, hil / eiddil / Addaf ["Woe to us, feeble race of Adam"]^[28]

More complex types of cynghanedd sain are possible. Occasionally there is consonant echoing between the first and second parts, as well as alliteration between the second and third. An example this line by Dafydd ap Gwilym:

Digrif fydd, / mau grefydd / grill! ["Pleasant it will be – birdsong is my worship! –"]^[18]

There are also some lines which could be read as both cynghanedd sain and cynghanedd draws; this kind is known as cynghanedd seindraws.^[29] For example:

Yno y gwŷs / difwyno gwedd ["There they know how to make a face ugly"]^[30]

Sometimes the line can be divided into four distinct sections, with rhyme between the first and third parts, and consonantal cynghanedd between the second and fourth. This is known as cynghanedd sain gadwynog.^[3] The following examples come from Dafydd ap Gwilym:

Gofiniad / braisg / geimiad / brwysg ["The question of a strong, fierce hero."]^[31]

Lleuad las / gron, / gwmpas / graen ["A round blue moon, a gloomy circle"]^[30]

The following line, from Dafydd ap Gwilym's Y Cleddyf ["The Sword"], has double cynghanedd sain, with two rhymes (ain ... ain, wydr ... wydr) and two alliterations (br ... br, tr ... tr):

Coelfain brain brwydr, / treiglgrwydr trin ["Rewarder of crows of battle, flowing interwoven pattern of war"]^[32]

The following, the first line of Dafydd ap Gwilym's Y Deildy ["The Leaf-House"], is classified as cynghanedd sain bengoll ["headless cynghanedd sain"],^[33] because the last part of the line is not part of the pattern. The second and third part of the line have the pattern {F [stress] R Dd}. The consonant pattern {F R} is heard again in the fourth section but with a different stress:

Heirdd / feirdd / f'eurddyn, / diledfeirw ["Handsome poets, my golden girl, and lively ones"]^[14]

In cynghanedd lusg ("drag-harmony" or "trailing cynghanedd") the final syllable of a word earlier in the line makes full rhyme (i.e. including the vowel and consonant(s) after the vowel) with the penultimate syllable of the line-final polysyllabic word (i.e. the main stressed syllable of the second half). Usually no consonant-matching is involved except the consonant or consonants in the rhyme itself. Often the first rhyme is the last syllable before the mid-line break, as in the following line addressed to the wind by Dafydd ap Gwilym:

A buaned / y rhedy ["And how swiftly you run"]^[8]

The first rhyme can also be in a monosyllable:

A dwyn sôn / mewn afonydd ["And bringing noise in rivers"]^[18]

Sometimes the first rhyme can come earlier in the line:

Nid call / i fardd arallwlad ["It is not wise for a poet from another land"]^[34]

It is also possible for the two rhymes to be in consecutive syllables, both in the second half of the line:

Oni'th gaf / er cerdd erddrym ["If I don't win you with my noble song"]^[35]

Mi a'th gaf, / addwyn wyneb ["It is I who shall win you, gentle-faced (girl)"]^[35]

As these examples show, the first rhyming syllable can be stressed or unstressed, but the second one is always stressed.

Cynghanedd lusg can be used, as in the above example, to show that in a word like wyneb ["face"] the original pronunciation of wy was [ʊɨ] not [wɨ] as it is often pronounced today.^[36] Another example is:

Amlwg fydd trwyn / ar wyneb ["Plain is a nose on a face"]^[37]

Since ai in a final syllable of a word becomes ei in a penultimate syllable (for example, dail ["leaves"] vs. deilen ["a leaf"]),^[38] ai in a word-final syllable is considered to rhyme with ei in a penultimate one, as in this line by Dafydd ap Gwilym:

Draean noswaith / hyd neithwyr ["(I did not sleep) even a third of a night until last night"]^[31]

Similarly since au in a final syllable becomes eu in a penultimate one (e.g. haul ["sun"] vs. heulog ["sunny"]), a final syllable with au rhymes with eu in a penultimate one:

Ac yntau / a ddechreuawdd ["And it was he who began"]^[39]

Similarly, y [ɨ] in a final syllable rhymes with y [ə] in a penultimate one:

Ai hir gennyd / yr ydwyd? ["Is it long that you have been longing?"]^[40]

Occasionally it is possible for cynghanedd lusg and cynghanedd groes to be combined in the same line, as in this example from the 15th-century poet Dafydd Nanmor, which combines the rhyme -yr ... -yr with the echoed consonants {L Th [stress] R}:

Lwyth eryr / o lythyrau ["An eagle-load of letters"]^[41]

Cynghanedd lusg is less common than the other three types of cynghanedd. For example, Dafydd ap Gwilym's poem Y Ffenestr ["The Window"] with 52 lines has 19% croes, 38% traws, 33% sain, and 10% llusg; Trafferth Mewn Tafarn ["Trouble at a Tavern"] with 74 lines has 12% croes, 39% traws, 36% sain, and 12% llusg; while his poem Dagrau Serch ["Tears of Love"] of 50 lines has 38% croes, 36% traws, 16% sain, and 6% llusg, with one line of cynghanedd groes bengoll and one line without cynghanedd.^[42]

Most poems have cynghanedd in every line, or nearly every line. But there are some exceptions. For example, Dafydd ap Gwilym's poem Y Cwt Gwyddau ["The Goose Shed"] has 11% croes, 18% traws, 34% sain, no cynghanedd lusg at all, and has 16 lines (36%) with no cynghanedd. Merched Llanbadarn ["The Girls of Llanbadarn"] similarly has 19 lines (43%) without cynghanedd.^[43] Stylistically there is a difference, since several of the lines with no cynghanedd are used in the part where two girls are gossiping about Dafydd in church.

Cynghanedd patterns in other metres are sometimes the same, sometimes slightly different from the forms described above. For example, in the stanza below, the first from an englyn by Dafydd ap Gwilym in praise of a certain rood-cross in Carmarthen,^[44] the first eight syllables of the first line contain a cynghanedd sain, with rhymes -erth ... -erth and alliteration of ⟨n⟩, but it does not continue to the end of the line. The ending of the line together with part of the second line make a cynghanedd draws, with repeated consonants {TR [stress] SW (R)}, spread across two lines. The third and fourth lines display a normal cynghanedd groes and cynghanedd sain respectively, exactly as in a cywydd couplet. The sixth syllable of line 1 rhymes with the final syllable of lines 2, 3, and 4. Finally, lines 1, 3, and 4 are linked by the same initial consonants (cr-), a feature known as cymeriad llythrennol.^[2] The remaining stanzas of the poem all follow a similar pattern.

Cryf aberth / yw nerth, / nid yn aer /—treiswyr

      Eithr mywn trawswyrth / didaer,
   Crair mawrglod, / croywrym eirglaer,
   Crog bedwarban / o gan / Gaer.
["Strong sacrifice is the strength, not in oppressors' battle
      but in gentle [yet] powerful miracle;
   highly-praised renowned holy relic, pure its vigour,

   of the four-pointed rood from white Caer."]^[45]

A form of cynghanedd lusg known as "internal rhyme" (Breton : klotennoù diabarzh, enklotennoù or kenganez) was frequently used in Middle Breton, between the 12th and 17th centuries, in poetry, like in Pemzec Leuenez Maria or in the sonnet from Français Moeam, and theatre like in lots of misterioù, religious pieces, such as Buhez Sante Barba'. Two of the oldest works with internal rhymes are the Ivonet Omnes verses, which seem to be an old Breton lay and Dialog etre Arzuz Roe d'an bretounet ha Guiclaff, a prophetic text in dialogues.

This is an extract of An Dialog etre Arzur Roe d'an Bretounet ha Guynglaff (48-49 verses) :

An tut a ilis diguyset
An douar fallaff a roy guellaff et

Though it isn't used as much as cynghanedd in Modern Welsh, some authors have published some work using this internal rhyme in poetry (Alan Botrel)^[46] or in the form of a lay like Lae Izold by Paskal Tabuteau.^[47]

• Hopwood, Mererid (2004), Singing in Chains: Listening to Welsh Verse. Llandysul: Gomer. ISBN 1-84323-402-5.
• Llwyd, Alan (2007), Anghenion y Gynghanedd. Barddas. ISBN 978-1-900437-98-1
• Turco, Lewis (1986), The New Book of Forms: A Handbook of Poetics. University Press of New England: London. ISBN 0-87451-380-4.
• Emile Ernault, L'ancien Vers breton, Honoré Champion, 1912; republished by Brud Nevez, 1991 ISBN 978-2-86775-103-5

• The Seagull (poem)

• For an example of a poem in English using cynghanedd, see the poem by Katherine Bryant at the end of this page.
• A more thorough introduction to Welsh poetic forms
• Cynghanedd.com A website in Welsh devoted to the strict metres, where poets post their work and discuss.