Irish Bardic Poetry

In ancient years, well before the Norman invasion, the British Isles possessed an elite class called the filid. These were what many of us would today know of as Merlin, Taliesin, Aneurin and the like. After twelve years of grueling training the fili would enter a noble court to become its advisor, historian, musician, and in some cases its magician. The histories they recorded for their sires were so profound that they were considered living things, and if not always completely true these tales acquired the majesty and survivability of legends. When a fili created poetry he was in fact creating a spell, to be used either in battle against enemies or for the glory of his own court. The ranks of the filid were strict and complex, and only a master had the right to create these spells. True lyrical poetry, especially the type meant for music, was just a mere pastime for a fili of any rank.

The Norman invasion saw the end of the noble filid and paved the way for the less powerful class of bards. A bard was simply a fili without political power, and many of the former arts were lost in the shadow of a changing class system. Yet in true Irish fashion the bards of Ireland were the last to let go of their art, and it is through them that we have passed down through history the basic rules of bardic poetry. These rules are the skeleton of the ancient filid spells, the noble legends that created one of the world's most magical histories.

For this first installment, specifically Irish Bardic Poetry, I will be providing the rules in a series of four small parts. I might follow this with examples. My source is Myles Dillon's "Early Irish Literature" (1948, 1969). His source is Eleanor Knott's "Irish Syllabic Poetry" (1928). It will help the reader to know the fundamentals of the Irish language.

This Irish bardic metrical system was developed in the eighth or ninth century and was known as dan direach. It was consequently taught to the early monks to help them learn the Irish language. The first ornament of dan direach is rhyme (comhardadh).

Comhardadh
The stressed vowels must be identical.
Every consonant after the stressed vowel must be of the same class and quality, each to each.

The consonants are divided into six classes:

1. b, d, g
2. p, t, c
3. ph(f), th, ch
4. bh, dh, gh, l, mh, n, r
5. ll, m(m), nn, ng, rr
6. s

A consonant rhymes with only one of its own class.
Palatal (followed by e or i) rhymes only with palatal, and non-palatal (followed by a, o, or u) with non-palatal.
Rhyme may be final or internal.
There is a special ornament called aicill where a rhyme is between the final of one verse and the interior of the next.
When two or more words in a verse rhyme with corresponding words in another verse, no non-rhyming stressed word may interrupt the sequence of words.

Part 2 of this installment will be on the second part of dan direach, which is assonance (amus).
I hope this provided a little inspiration as well as some interesting history. If you have any questions or ideas please feel free to leave your comments below.

Eveder