An Comunn Gàidhealach Publications > Bardachd Ghaidhlig

Introduction.
xli.
(18) P. 131, Sian a chaoidh le cedi na clarsaich.
In all of which penultimate stress replaces at will the
dissyllabic ending. It appears also in three stanzas of
(19) P. 61, Rainn Ghearradh-arm.
4. Sneadhbhairdne (Snedbairdne): 2 (82 + 42) 2 + 4.
The couplet consists of a line of eight syllables
ending on a dissyllable plus a line of four syllables
ending on a dissyllable. The couplets rhyme. The
best specimens are:^—
(20) P. 259, An Duanag Ullamh.
(21) P. 172, Tha sgeul agam dhuibh ri innseadh.
Less accurate are:—
(19) P. 61, Chunnaic mi an diugh a’ chlach
bhuadhach.
(22) P. 209, Is fhada tha mise ann mo chodal.
(23) P. 9, A Thi mhoir a chruthaich na diiilean.
The last is influenced strongly by stress. All, how¬
ever, are excellent poems. Most of Alexander
MacDonald’s Birlinn is in this metre.
For comparison we may take two quatrains from
an ancient poem ascribed to Colum Cille: —
Mellach lem bhith ind ucht ailiuin
for beind cairrge,
conacind and ar a mheinci
feth na fairrci.
Conacind a tonda troma
uas ler lethan,
amail canait ce61 dia n-athair
for sedl bethad.1
1 Pleasant, methinks, to be on an isle’s breast, on a pinnacle
of rock, that I might see there in its frequency the ocean’s
aspect. So that I might see its weighty billows over the broad
sea, how they sing music to their Father, throughout life’s
course.