The prosody of the Celtic languages is often very elaborate, but the more
modern tendency has generally been in the direction of assimilating it to
the prosody of English, or, in the case of Breton, to that of French. In
Welsh two systems exist at the present day, and the rules of them are
known respectively as _y Rheolau Caethion_ and _y Rheolau Rhyddion_, the
bond or strict rules and the free rules. The former are founded on
elaborate rules of _Cynghanedd_ or consonance, which term includes
alliteration and rhyme, and every imaginable correspondence of consonant
and vowel sounds, reduced to a system which Welsh-speaking Welshmen
profess to be able to appreciate, and no doubt really can, though it is
not easily understood by the rest of the world. The rules of
_Cynghanedd_ are applied in various ways to the four-and-twenty metres of
the Venedotian (Gwynedd or North Wales) school, and to the metres of the
Dimetian (Dyfed or South-West Wales) and the Glamorgan schools. Modern
Welsh bards, however, though they often use the strict rules as
_tours-de-force_ for Eisteddfod purposes, as often compose poetry
according to the free rules, which are mostly the ordinary
go-as-you-please metres of the Saxon. The Bretons follow the ordinary
French rules as to the strict number of syllables, the cæsura, and the
rhyming, taking very little account of the stress accent either of words
or sentences.
The prosody of the older Cornish literature has little in common with the
strict system of Welsh. Though one does find alliterations and
“internal” rhyming and correspondence of consonants, they do not seem to
be at all systematic, but are only either introduced as casual ornaments
or purely accidentally. The rules of the older Cornish prosody have more
in common with those of Breton, except that, but for one case in the
Dramas of a five-syllabled couplet, and the rather irregular Add. Charter
fragment in the British Museum, there are only two lengths of lines,
seven or four syllables, and the cæsura is not very definite.
The seven-syllabled lines are the more common. The whole of the _Poem of
the Passion_ is in stanzas of eight seven-syllabled lines, rhyming
alternately, but written as fourteen-syllabled lines; and the greater
part of the Dramas is in lines of the same length, though with varying
arrangements of rhymes. Sometimes whole passages of four-syllabled lines
occur, and frequently four-syllabled lines occur in the same stanza with
those of seven syllables. The rhythmic accent seems to be trochaic, and
the heptasyllabic line to consist of three trochees and a long syllable,
but as the stress accent of words is absolutely disregarded, and the
strong beats of the rhythm sometimes fall on monosyllables which out of
poetry would probably be enclitic or proclitic, or at any rate very
slightly accented, one can only be sure of the fact that the poet of the
_Ordinalia_ was careful to count his syllables exactly, and to make the
last syllable of every line rhyme with the last syllable of some other
line. The author of the _Poem of the Passion_ was not quite so careful,
and Jordan was still less so. Diphthongs, as in Breton, are occasionally
counted as two syllables, a _y_ followed by another vowel is sometimes a
vowel and sometimes a consonant, and there are occasional elisions and
perhaps contractions, understood but not expressed, {180a} but with these
few exceptions the number of syllables to a line is strictly accurate,
and in the _Ordinalia_ is never varied by the unaccented and uncounted
syllables that often occur in English verse. The rhymes are quite strict
to the eye, but that is no doubt because in the days when one could spell
as one pleased, the writer might arrange his spelling to suit, but there
appear to be cases where the _dh_ and _th_, both written _th_, as final
consonants are made to rhyme together, and the three sounds of _u_ (_oo_
and the French _u_ and _eu_) are sometimes confused. Though the rhymes
are always “masculine” (i.e. of one syllable), there are occasionally
cases where, unless one counts the rhymes as “feminine” (i.e. of two
syllables), they would not be rhymes at all, and yet feminine rhymes
would throw out the rhythm. {180b}
The metres of late Cornish were usually rather more assimilated to
English, but apparently some memory of Celtic prosody lingered on. Lhuyd
quotes a proverb, of which he gives two versions, in the old three-lined
metre known in Welsh as the _Triban Milwr_, or Warrior’s Triplets, which
is found as early as Llywarch Hen’s Laments for Geraint ap Erbyn and for
the Death of Cynddylan, in the sixth century. Lhuyd himself wrote a
Cornish Lament for William of Orange in what he claimed as the same
metre, a singularly inappropriate subject for the language of a nation of
loyal Jacobites, as the Cornish certainly were as late as 1715. Boson
(Gwavas MS., f. 7) wrote a short elegy on James Jenkins of Alverton, also
in rhyming triplets. The curious little song, which is all that remains
of Jenkins’s poetry, seems to show indications of a feeling for internal
rhymes and something like a rudimentary _Cynghanedd_, but there is not
enough of it to reduce to any definite rules. Even in Boson’s verses and
in those of Gwavas and Tonkin of St. Just (not the historian), in the
Gwavas MS., the old system of counting syllables and taking very little
account of the stress accents of words, is occasionally found, but
generally in the later verse the extra unaccented syllables freely
introduced show that a sense of accent and beats of rhythm had come in.
SPECIMENS OF CORNISH VERSE.
I. Five- (or four) syllabled lines, with occasional six-syllabled,
rhyming A A B C C B. From the fragment on the back of Additional Charter
19,491 in the British Museum, late fourteenth century.
_Golsow ty cowedh_, (5) Hearken, thou comrade,
_Byth na borth medh_, (4) Never be ashamed,
_Dyyskyn ha powes_ (6) Alight and rest
_Ha dhymo dus nes_. (5) And to me come near.
_Mar codhes dhe les_; (5) If thou knowest thy advantage;
_Ha dhys y rof mowes_, (6) And to thee I will give a girl,
_Ha fest unan dek_ (5) And truly a fair one
_Genes mar a plek_. (5) To thee if she is pleasing.
_Ha tanha y_; (4) Go take her now;
_Kemmerr y dhoth wrek_, (5) Take her to thy wife,
_Sconye dhys ny vek_ (5) Refuse thee she will not
_Ha ty a vydh hy_. (5) {181} And thou shalt have her.
It is probable that this metre is intended to be five-syllabled
throughout, except that a “feminine” or double rhyme is occasionally
allowable (e.g. _powes-mowes_), and that the light first syllable of a
line may be omitted. This accounts for the two six-syllabled and two
four-syllabled lines respectively. In the rest of the poem there are
lines of four, five, seven, eight, and even nine syllables. The whole
fragment of forty-one lines, though not much earlier than the
_Ordinalia_, is much less regular in rhythm, and is much less syllabic.
II. One of the commonest metres of the Dramas, and indeed of much
mediæval verse in other languages, consists of seven-syllabled lines
rhyming A A B C C B, or A A B A A B.
From the _Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi_, the second of the
_Ordinalia_, fifteenth century. (Our Lord’s speech to the _Pueri
Hebræorum_.)
_Ow benneth ol ragas bo_ My blessing be all upon you
_Ow tos yn onor thymmo_ Coming in honour to me
_Gans branchis flowrys With branches and flowers
kefrys_. likewise.
_Un deyth a thue yredy_ A day shall soon come
_Ma’n talvethaf ol thywhy_ When I shall repay it all to you
_Kemmys enor thym yu gwrys_. As much honour as is done to me.
This is the metre of the well-known Whitsunday Sequence, _Veni Sancte
Spiritus_ (Come, thou Holy Spirit, come).
Note that _gwrys_ (_gwres_ in Modern Cornish) is a monosyllable, and that
the _ue_ of _dhue_ is a single vowel=_eu_. This metre is varied by being
made into eight-lined stanzas, rhyming A A A B C C C B.
III. Another very common metre in the Dramas consists of stanzas of
eight lines of seven syllables, rhyming alternately. Usually the stanza
only contains two rhymes, but sometimes, especially if four lines of the
eight are given to one character and four to another, the rhymes of the
two quatrains are independent of one another.
From the _Ordinale de Origine Mundi_, fifteenth century. (Eve’s speech
to Adam after gathering the apple.)
_My pan esen ou quandre_ I when I was wandering
_Clewys a’n nyl tenewen_ Heard on the one side
_Un el ou talleth cane_ An angel beginning to sing
_A ughaf war an wethen_. Above me on the tree.
_Ef a wruk ow husullye_ He did counsel me
_Frut annethy may torren_ Fruit from it that I should break;
_Moy es Deu ny a vye_ More than God we should be
_Bys venytha na sorren_. Nor be troubled for ever.
Note the apparent “feminine” rhymes, _torren-sorren_, which are really
_rimes riches_ in the French style.
The whole _Poem of the Passion_ is in this metre, but is written in lines
of fourteen syllables.
IV. Four-syllabled lines, often written as eight-syllabled, rhyming
alternately. Thus (_Passio D. N. J. C._ in the _Ordinalia_, 1. 35):—
_A mester whek· gorthys re by_ O sweet master, glorified be thou,
_Pan wreth mar tek· agan dysky_. When thou dost so sweetly teach us.
_Asson whansek· ol the pysy_, How we desire all to pray,
_Lettrys na lek· war Thu mercy_! Learned and lay, to God for mercy!
The same two rhymes run through a stanza of eight (written as four)
lines.
V. Four-syllabled lines in six-lined stanzas, rhyming A A B A A B
(_Passio D. N. J. C._, 169).
_Gorthyans ha gras_ Glory and thanks
_The Dew ow thas_ To God my Father,
_Luen a verci_, Full of mercy,
_Pan danvonas_ When he sent
_Yn onor bras_ In great honour
_Thym servysi_. Servants to me.
VI. Sometimes a mixture of the last two forms of stanza is found
extended to ten lines. Thus (_Origo Mundi_, 1271):—
_Dyvythys of_ Come am I
_The’th volungeth_, To thy will.
_Arluth porth cof_ Lord remember
_Yn deyth dyweth_ In the last day
_A’m enef vy_. My soul.
_Lavar thymmo_ Tell me
_Pandra wrama_; What I shall do;
_Y’n gwraf ytho_ I will do it now
_Scon yn tor-ma_ Soon in this turn
_Yn pur deffry_. Very seriously.
VII. Mixed seven and four syllabled lines. Sometimes these are only the
metre of II., with the third and sixth lines four-syllabled instead of
seven-syllabled.
Thus in _Origo Mundi_, 911, we find:—
_Ou banneth theughwhy pub prys_, My blessing to you always,
_Mar tha y wreugh ou nygys_ So well you do my business
_Prest yn pub le_. Quickly everywhere.
_Gorreugh an fals nygethys_ Put the false flier
_Gans Abel a desempys_ With Abel immediately
_The yssethe_. To sit.
VIII. Sometimes alternations of stanzas of four and seven-syllabled
lines are found. A very remarkable and effective set opens the Drama of
_The Passion_. It is in stanzas of thirteen lines, eight lines of four
syllables (written as four of eight syllables), rhyming A B A B A B A B,
one line of seven syllables with rhyme C, three lines of seven syllables
with rhyme D, and a seven-syllabled line with rhyme C.
_Thyugh lavara· Ow dyskyblyon_, To you I say, my disciples,
_Pyseygh toythda· Ol kescolon_ Pray quickly, all of one heart
_Deu dreys pup tra· Eus a huhon_ God above everything, who is on high
_Theygh yn bys-ma· Ygrath To you in this world His grace to
danvon_ send
_Yn dyweth may feugh sylwys_. In the end that ye may be saved.
_Gans an eleth yu golow_, With the angels there is light,
_Yn nef agas enefow_ In heaven your souls
_Neffre a tryg hep ponow_ Ever shall dwell without pains
_Yn joy na vyth dywythys_. In joy that shall not be ended.
IX. In the Drama of _St. Meriasek_ there are no less than ten classes of
stanza, counting by the number of lines to the stanza, and these may be
considerably multiplied by alternating or mixing seven-syllabled with
four-syllabled lines in various orders, and by varying the number of sets
of rhymes to a stanza and the order of those rhymes. Perhaps one of the
most elaborated (1. 168-180) will serve as a specimen. It is a
thirteen-lined stanza of twelve seven-syllabled lines, and one (the
ninth) four-syllabled line, with four sets of rhymes, rhyming A B A B A B
A B C [four syllables] D D D C.
_Gelwys ydhof Conany_, Called am I Conan,
_Mytern yn Bryton Vyan_; King in Little Britain;
_Han gulascor pur yredy_ And the kingdom very readily
_Me a beu ol yn tyan_. I own all entirely.
_Der avys ou arlydhy_ Through the advice of my lords
_Mones y fannaf lemman_ I will go now
_The Duk pen a chevalry_, To the Duke the chief of knighthood.
_Nesse dhymmo yn certan_ Second to me certainly
_Par del yu ef_ Like as he is.
_Yma maryag galosek_ There is a mighty marriage
_Cowsys dhyn rag Meryasek_ Spoken to us for Meriasek
_Mergh dhe vyghtern gallosek_, Of the daughter to a mighty king,
_Nynses brassa yn dan nef_. There is not a greater under heaven.
It is evident that by varying the number of lines and rhymes to a stanza,
varying the distribution of the rhymes, and mixing lines of different
length, an almost infinite variety may be obtained, even with only two
forms of line.
X. The metres of Jordan’s Drama of _The Creation_ (1611) do not differ
materially in intention from those of the _Ordinalia_, on which they are
evidently modelled. But in this play one begins to find signs of a
tendency to a less accurate ear for exact syllabic rhythm. About eighty
lines out of the 2548 of which the play consists have eight syllables,
about twenty have only six, and in each case these ought to be
seven-syllabled. Also there are two cases of three and six of five
syllables in what ought to be four-syllabled lines, and there are several
cases of nine syllables in a line, and one case of ten. No doubt some of
these discrepancies may be accounted for by elisions and contractions not
expressed in writing (as is often the case in Latin), and some of the
short lines contain diphthongs which may be meant to count as two
syllables, but by no means all are explainable by anything but the
influence of English, or, as is less probable, a reversion to some such
archaic idea of rhythm as that of the Add. Charter fragment.
After this we come to the verses of late Cornish. These are few, poor,
corrupt, and illiterate, and for the most part without value for metrical
purposes. The strictly syllabic metres of the older Cornish have nearly
disappeared, and though the tonic accent is still disregarded when
convenient, extra unaccented syllables, as often in inferior, and
sometimes in good English verse, are freely introduced by way of
anacrusis, etc., in a manner that shows that accent was considered in a
sort of way, and that the accents of a line rather than the syllables
were counted. John Boson wrote a few lines in three-lined stanzas
somewhat after the fashion of the Welsh _Triban Milwr_, and Lhuyd’s
artificial elegy on William of Orange is another instance of the same.
The only poem remaining of James Jenkins of Alverton (printed by Pryce
and Davies Gilbert) is a sort of irregular ode, which refuses to be
satisfactorily analysed. The lines are all sorts of lengths, they may
begin with an accent or they may have one or two light syllables before
the first strong beat, the rhymes may be single or double. The principle
of the first part seems to be little lines of two beats, varying from
three to seven syllables rhyming in couplets. Thus:—
_Ma léeaz gwréag_ There are many wives
_Lácka vel zéag_, Worse than grains [i.e. brewers’
refuse],
_Gwéll gerrés_ (or _gwéll Better left
gérres_)
_Vel kommeres_ (or _vél Than taken,
komméres_),
_Ha ma léeaz bénnen_ And there are man women
_Pókar an gwénen_ Like the bees,
_Ey vedn gwérraz de go tées_ They will help their men
_Dendle péath an béaz_. To earn the goods of the world.
_Fléhaz heb skéeans_ Children without knowledge
_Vedn guíl go séeanz_; Will do [according to] their sense;
_Buz mar crówngy predery_ But if they do consider
_Pan dél go gwáry_ What their play is like,
_Ha mádra tá_ And consider well
_Pandrig séera ha dámma_, What did father and mother,
_Na ra hens_ [_wrans_?] _móaz dan They will not go to the wood
cóoz_
_Do kúntle go bóoz_. {188} To gather their food.
The latter part has lines of four beats, with a very variable number of
unaccented syllables, which in reading were probably hurried over rather
vaguely. This rhythm may be compared with the “new principle” (as the
author calls it in his preface) of Coleridge’s _Christabel_. {189a}
Boson’s triplets are mostly of ten-syllabled lines, Lhuyd’s are generally
of eight syllables, but sometimes of nine or even ten and eleven.
Tonkin of St. Just, a tailor, wrote two songs, which are in the Gwavas
MS. They are in four-lined stanzas generally of seven-syllabled lines,
though as often as not having an extra light syllable to begin with.
Thus:—
_Pa wrîg ev gŏrra trâz war tîr_ When he [i.e. William of Orange] did
put foot on land
_Ev vê welcombes me ôr gwîr_.
He was welcomed I know well.
_Ha devethes dhô Caresk_
And having come [came] to Exeter
_Maga saw besca vê pesk_. {189b}
As safe as ever was fish.
The epigrams printed by Pryce and Davies Gilbert were mostly composed by
Boson and Gwavas. Eight-syllabled lines are frequent among them, but
they are of little or no value, and are altogether on English models, and
not very good models at that.
Should any one wish to attempt verse-writing in Cornish, it would be best
either to use one of the seven or four syllabled (or mixed) metres of the
Dramas, using their purely syllabic methods, which undoubtedly work all
right in modern Breton, or to extend the same principles, as the Bretons
do, to lines of other lengths. The triplets of old Welsh and perhaps of
very old Cornish are effective metres, but are not so easy as they look,
for it is not enough merely to write rhyming triplets. Lhuyd in his one
attempt has produced a peculiar though allowable metre, with lines of all
sorts of lengths, and the old specimens, Llywarch Hen’s _Marwnad Geraint
ap Erbin_, and the Englynion called _Eiry Mynydd_, are largely in lines
of seven syllables, and some of them, such as the Song of the Death of
Cynddylan, and the curious ninth-century poem in the Cambridge
_Juvencus_, seem to have also the _gair cyrch_, that strange little tag
to the first line of the triplet, outside of the rhyme but not outside of
the assonance or alliteration, which is so marked a characteristic of the
four-lined Englyn, while in most of them there are alliterations, vowel
correspondences, and internal rhymes, which are not so haphazard as they
look. It is well not to attempt to force a Celtic language into a
Teutonic mould. Some of the most beautiful metres that the world has
ever known are to be found among the works of English poets, but they are
no more suitable to Cornish than hexameters, sapphics, and alcaics on
strict quantity lines would be to English. It is possible, however, to
write ten-syllabled blank verse in Cornish, provided a fair amount of
alliteration is used.
One word about inversions of the order of words in poetry. This should
be done very sparingly, and it is not easy to lay down very definite
rules as to what is allowable and what not. It is best not to deviate
from the usual order of words unless one can find a precedent in one of
the Dramas. Some inversions, however, are quite allowable. Thus one may
put the complement of a predicate, e.g. an infinitive, an accusative, or
a participle, at the beginning of a phrase:—
_bewa ythesaf pub eare_ (_Creation_, 1667), living I am always.
_banna ny allaf gwelas_ (_Creation_, 1622), a drop I cannot see.
_defalebys os ha cabm_ (_Creation_, 1603), deformed thou art, and
crooked.
_yn bushes ow crowetha_ (_Creation_, 1606), in bushes lying.
_gans dean pen vo convethys_ (_Creation_, 1618), by man when it is
discovered.
_worthaf ve sertan ny dale_ (_Creation_, 1619), with me, certainly,
ought not.
_determys ove dha un dra_ (_Creation_, 236), determined I am of one
thing.
_mos then menythe me a vyn_ (_Creation_, 1082), go to the mountain I
will.
These are all taken from Jordan’s _Creation_, and mostly at random from
the same page. Still, the less one inverts the normal order of words the
better.