lììtroduction. sxxvii.
1. The imit is the rann, which for our purposes
may be understood as quatrain. Each rann consists
of two couplets, ìeathrami. Each hne in the rann
sho'uld approximate to independent sense ; in the
couplet the approach to fuU sense is nearer ; the
quatrain is always complete and, self-contained.
2. End-rhyme ^'■TOnmn&nce^ co tnh ardadh, may
exist either between the fìnal words of each Hne, or
between the fìnal words of the two couplets.
3. Internal rhyme, uuitìine, )may occur between any
woird in the first hne of ' a~couplet and any word in
the secQind line of the same couplet. The uaithne that
occurs between the last word of the j&rst line of a
couplet and a word in the second hne of the same
couplet is called by the special name, aichill,
"anticipation" ; a quatrain in which this sort of
uaithne occurs is called aichleach.
4. Alhteration, uaim , occurs between words
beginning with the same consonant, or with a vowel.
Fioruaim demands that the alHterating words shall
come together at the end of a line (a short unstressed
word between does not count).
o. Ehsion, bàdhadh, is not obhgatoi*y in the
earhest classical poetry, but in the later stages, it is
regular, though not invariable. In other words, hiatus
(the separate pronunciation of two vowels, one at the
end of a word and the other at the beginning of the
following word) is not usual. The vowels in question,
however, are always written in full.
The following highly embehished quatrain, from the
elegy on Sir Duncan CampbeU of Glenorchy, who died
in 1603, illustrates all these points : —