Englyn

An englyn on a gravestone in Christ Church, Bala:

Price anwyl, pur ei wasanaeth–diwyd
      Eang ei wybodaeth;
   Gwr o aspri, ffri a ffraeth,
   A thrwyadl mewn athrawiaeth.

Dear Price, pure in his diligent service
      Wide in his knowledge;
   A man acerbic, fearless and fluent,
   And thorough in doctrine.

Englyn (pronounced [ˈɛŋ.lɪn]; plural englynion) is a traditional Welsh short poem form, consisting of a stanza of either three or four lines. The metre involves the counting of syllables, and rigid patterns of rhyme and half rhyme. Many lines contain a repeating pattern of consonants and accent known as cynghanedd.

An englyn can be used as a poem in its own right, for example as an epitaph, or used in a series as part of a longer poem. Sometimes different types of englyn are mixed in the same poem.

The three-line englyn was common in early Welsh poetry, but about the 12th century it went out of fashion, to be replaced completely by four-line varieties.

The most common type of englyn is the four-line englyn unodl union, which is usually referred to simply as an englyn.