Poetic Form 87: Gwawdodyn

 Old Shoes

Like broken-in shoes, I feel the past

comforting my steps forward. Steadfast

I open the door, embracing the four

corners of the world, running at last.

Poetic Form #87: Gwawdodyn

The gwawdodyn is a Welsh poetic form with two options. The main rule

is the poem is  a quatrain (4-line stanza) with 9/9/10/9 syllable pattern.

Lines 1, 2, and 4 have the same end rhyme. The variation is in the third line.

 

Version one has an internal rhyme within the third line to the end rhyme of that line. 

 

Version two has an internal rhyme in the third line that rhymes with an internal

rhyme in the fourth line.

 

In both versions, the rhyme starts somewhere in the middle of the third line and

it is a unique rhyme as compared to the end rhyme in lines 1, 2, and 4.

Version one would look like this: 

xxxxxxxxa

xxxxxxxxa

xxxxbxxxxb (the internal rhyme can move a little)

xxxxxxxxa

Version two would look like this: 

xxxxxxxxa

xxxxxxxxa

xxxxbxxxxx (the internal rhyme can move a little for both lines)

xxxbxxxxa