Matheson Collection > Bardachd Ghaidhlig

xlviii. Introduction.
Here the long lines eontain seven syllables. In the
first three phrases the syllables that bear the first
stress rhyme with each other, as do also the syllables
that bear the second stress. There is aichill between
the third and fourth phrases.
(33) Compare p. 63, Is duilich leam an càradh.
The scheme of such poems may be given compendiously
as
3 (Is dìiilich leam an càradh) 's a' Bhràigh so thall,
and described, in this case, as a double-stressed à-phrase
thrice repeated, with its final stress penultimate,
followed by a double-stressed à-phrase with final stress
ultimate. The last stressed vowel of the strophe
rhymes with the corresponding vowel of the following
fifteen strophes, which are therefore all à-strophes.
(34) P. 40, Fhìiair mi naidheachd ro-mhaith leam,
is very similar.
Ochtfhjclach mòr corranach is a sixtcen-line variety
of the above. It is represented in
(35) P. 76, Beir m.o shoraidh le dùrachd.
Here the final stressed syllables of the first four
strophes rhyme together, the four strophes thus
forming a rann, each hne of which is a strophe.
Ochtfhoclach beag is of the form (3x52)-f41- It
also has a corranach form of sixteen lines or four
strophes, represented in modern poetry by
(36) P.14:
Gu bheil mi am ònrachd 's a choille ghn/amaich
mo chridhe htameach cha tog mi fonn.
This is cumha. The metre is that of Duncan
Macintvre's Coire Cheathaich. The rann consists of