Ae freslighe (ay fresh lee) is an Irish poetic form. Each stanza is a quatrain with lines of seven syllables. The rhyme scheme is a b a b. In forming rhymes, the end rhyme in lines one and three is three syllables, while the end rhyme in lines two and four is two syllables. Finally, Irish poetry is cyclic, so the poem should end with the first word or entire first line.
Here's what the poem form looks like.
x x x x (x x a)
x x x x x (x b)
x x x x (x x a)
x x x x x (x b)
You can read more about this form at The Poets Garret and Creative Bloomings.
I hope you'll join me this week in writing an Ae freslighe (or two). Please share a link to your poem or the poem itself in the comments.
Getting There
ReplyDeleteI’m almost home, drearily.
Things were kind of bad today.
I climb the steps wearily.
All that’s gone wrong’s on replay.
Open the door, forgetting
there’s a dog waiting inside.
Sure, things have been upsetting,
but then dog and me collide:
my dog, barking happily
like I’m the prize, the parade.
My dog loves me sappily,
and the awful day’s unmade.
—Kate Coombs, 2015
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