Inti Edoni (meaning shape of the verse) contains the main poetry forms employed by the Bardoi.
Sulabaros Tritanuos (three-tongued eloquence)
- Three lines
- Articles are ignored for rhyme scheme
- The first word in the first line rhymes with the last word in the third line
- The last word in the first line rhymes with the first word in the second line
- The last word in the second line rhymes with the first word of the third line
- The focus should be on keeping the lines as minimal and constrained as possible to convey what you want to convey.
- Ideally Nine words or less per line (disregarding articles)
- Twelve or more words per line are too much
- Designed to be usable as a devotional chant
A-B
B-C
C-A
Carnonos
The Space Between
Pristine Gold
Untold Grace
Bituatîs
Stark brightness
Lightness of moss
Across growing bark
Maponos
Divine youth
Sooth says your harp
Sharp as resinous pine
Tridiciâs (Three Faces)
Frayed into thirds
Words loom true
‘Do you know the way?’
Tetractys
Ray Stebbing created the Tetractys poetry style as a response to the haiku. While this kind of poetry was not
employed historically, Pythagoreanism was essential to the Druids, according to Diodorus Siculus
and other Greek and Roman writers.
The poetry form as laid out by Stebbing was lines of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 10 syllables. This form could be used, or another form, containing lines of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 10 stressed syllables, employing alliteration and Trochaic and Dactylic meters (1 stressed and 1 unstressed syllable and 1 stressed and 2 unstressed syllables, respectively). These were used commonly in Gaulish metrical texts.
Tongue of Ogmios
Speech
Swarming
Stunning sounds
So sweet they seem
Your silken sayings swept my soul downstream
Telling the Bees
Vast
Verbose
Verdant voice
Valley verses
Veiling vespers voyage to the vineyards
Brixtu
Brixtu is an octosyllabic meter. This form utilises alliteration, and Trochaic and Dactylics. It can be any number of lines, but eight would fit well. It can be constructed in any way that works, so long as it uses the mentioned techniques.
The Length of Words
Ogmios, lull this laurelled land
Lavish us with your litanies
Loathing for us lawless libel
Lifting lost loneliness from lips
Let our tribe linger, laugh, and lark
Longing lakes and leaves among us
Loyalty, life, laid lovingly
So we may listen at long last
Galatis style
This style is based on evidence for metrical forms preferred by the Gauls (as seen in West’s book ‘Indo-European Poetry and Myth). This style uses three lines, with alliteration and Trochaic or Dactylics dimeters. An example below shows the alliteration in bold, and the italics are the stressed syllables.
Materes
Materes, marble
Temples tower
Wefting, wavering
Rigonemetis
Gilded grove—
Holly, hazel,
Willow, watching
Nemetona
Sacred space,
Blading branches
Consecrate clarity
Alliterative Verse
This style is based on the alliterative verse found in Germanic and Old English poetry. As it focuses on stressed words rather than syllables, it is a good candidate for poetry written in Gaulish. Having been employed in the writing of Beowulf, it also makes a great form for epic poetry.
Each line in alliterative verse contains four stressed words, separated by a caesura in between each set of two. Articles and prepositions are ignored. The caesura serves as a pause between the next set of words. It is often written as ||, extra spaces, or a comma.
The first two stressed words should alliterate with one word from the following set. The metre thus looks like this:
a a || a x
a a || x a
Maponos in Albiê
Sounos sioxtinâ mapos sentês
Obo! Oinâcos ac Sabrêna ougrâ
Entar ercos excîtos snâmiâs
Aros Albiê saieliuindâs allati
Sleep no further || treasured son
Ah! Reunion || with cold Habrêna
Among salmon || swiftly swimming
Albion’s snow || meeting sunlight
Gaulish Paganism 