LOTR Ae Freislighe
Introductory
post:
An Ae Freislighe (ay fresh-lee)
is an Irish syllabic stanza form. Since this is our first Celtic form
here, it is worth noting that almost all the Irish or Welsh forms are
complex patterns of rhyme, alliteration and consonance. To get them
into English, adjustments have been made - lest any poetry purist pop
up and angstify about that...
This one is a quatrain (four line) stanza of 7-syllable lines.
Lines 1 and 3 rhyme in triple rhymes.
Lines 2 and 4 rhyme in double rhymes.
The poem (not the stanza) should end with the same first syllable/ word or line that it began with.
Diagrammed, it would look like this:
1. x x x x (xxa)
2. x x x x x (xb)
3. x x x x (xxa)
4. x x x x x (xb)
You can do multiple stanzas, but no matter how long or short, remember to end the poem on the same as it began.
-Primula
Grateful credit is given to Lewis Turco and his "Book of Poetic Forms"
Shire, for the harrowing
This time, the black silks riding
Ever target narrowing
But final outcome biding.
Legal fees or charity?
Sharkey relished such before
Nothing like sweet clarity
Shire, which we here adore.
- Beruthiel
I came to you crushed and bruised
Black veils ripped and torn away
By the Great Eye used, abused
Nazgul seem, have gone to stay
Left me there with orcs and such
To ponder what I would do
Did I like his touch, not much
That is why I came to you.
- Ringwraith-Wife
The Barrow Downs lie in the mist,
The wreathing wisps grasp the stones,
Call me now a pessimist
But this cold reminds of bones.
Long ago they fell beneath,
Dark the shades that crept within,
Heavy gold they shall bequeath,
Entrapping weight to stiffen.
Why did we stop, unthinking?
Now my plaintive cry resounds,
Answered only in clinking,
Far beneath the Barrow Downs.
- Primula
