Writing englynyow
Purpose: To help pupils gain knowledge and understanding of a distinct Celtic poetic form and help
them recognise aesthetic elements of the Cornish language.
Key ideas informing the activity: poetic forms, metre and syllables, sense of place.
Time: 1 to 1.5 hours depending on age group and extension activities.
This activity is based upon an exploration the Celtic poetic form known as englyn. The Cornish form
is known as eglyn (plural eglynow). Like Japanese haiku they are short and based around specific
structural conventions. Usually, they involve the creation of rhyme and half rhyme and have a
specific syllable count per line. However, for the purpose of this session, the emphasis is on creating
three rhyming lines.
By the end of this session the pupils will be able to:


write a simple eglyn in English
recognise how spoken Cornish sounds different to English, i.e. recognise Cornish prosody
For this activity you will need:

a Cornish speaker, preferably with some experience in composing poetry

a whiteboard or flipchart

pens and paper
Drawing upon the pupil’s prior knowledge, the teacher makes an explanation of poetic forms, metre
and rhyme.
With reference to haikus and sonnets, an explanation is made of how different cultures have created
different ‘forms’. The teacher then makes an explanation of englyn and eglyn with particular
emphasise on how they evolved out of British languages and are still used in Wales and Cornwall
today.
For secondary pupils we also make reference to Edward Lhuyd’s definition of ‘Celtic’, i.e. talk about
his definition based upon linguistic criterion. As an extension activity we sometimes make reference
to the relationships between the Celtic languages i.e. how Cornish is a ‘sister’ language to Welsh and
‘cousin’ to Scottish, Irish and Manx (Gaelic).
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Having made these observations the teacher then reads out the eglyn:
An lavar koth yw lavar gwir
Nevra dos mas a daves re hir
Mes den heb taves a gollas y dir.
Translation – The old saying is a true saying / never did good come of a tongue too long / but a man
without a tongue looses his land.
Then, as a whole class exercise:

the structure and form of the eglyn is examined and detailed on a whiteboard. For example
it has: three lines, and in this version has an increasing number of syllables for each line, all
three lines rhyme (a surprise for some!)

The teacher then drills the pupils on how to say the poem out aloud, with emphasis on how
to pronounce the words and the way the metre contributes to getting a distinct sound out of
them. (NB: children are usually much quicker at arriving at a distinct Cornish prosody than
adults – a few practices with this type of poem and they often leave them in their wake!)
The students then have a go at creating their own englyn in English. This is achieved in three stages:
1. choose a topic and ‘mind map’ ideas around it. These can be anything the pupils
care to justify
2. select from the mind map three words that rhyme. These then become the end of
the three lines of the englyn
3. create lines that end in the chosen word and put them together to create the
completed englyn. After a bit of practice the pupils will realise that they have to
create lines that make ‘sense’. However, with a bit of encouragement they should
also come to the realisation that imaginative language and ideas produce the best
results
Once the pupils get the hang of how to use the mind map method they can work in pairs and start
addressing their own topics. However, as an extension activity the teacher can make reference to
the Celtic fashion for poems that engage with nature and the senses and channel some of their
efforts in this direction
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For example, Lily from Looe Community School after mind - mapping the theme art wrote:
I like a bit of graffiti,
But I’m not exactly Banksy,
More surreal, like Dali
Differentiation: Watch out for pupils who begin to spot the value of syllable counting and how to use
rhyme and half rhyme. You can also suggest ‘rules’ for the number of syllables per line. EG 7, 7,7, or
7,8,9 and so on.
As an extension activity, we sometimes include an exploration of the similarities and differences
between the Celtic languages and how strange English looks in comparison!
Albanek
Iwerdhonek
Manowek
Bretonek
Kembrek
Kernewek
Sowsnek
muir
muir
muir
mor
mor
mor
sea
tìr
tír
cheer
tir
tir
tir
land
carraig
carraig
carrick
karreg
carreg
karrek
rock
abhainn
abhainn
awin
auon
afon
avon
river
teine
tine
aile
tan
tân
tan
fire
mil
mil
mill
mel
mel
mel
honey
dubh
dubh
doo
du
du
du
black
leabhar
leabhar
lior
levr
llyfr
lever
book
ceann
ceann
kione
penn
pen
penn
head
Càisg
Cáisc
Caisht
Pask
Pasg
Pask
Easter
mac
mac
mac
mab
mab
mab
son
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This map can be used to help locate the places where Celtic languages are spoken today:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Celtic_Nations.svg
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1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover
Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled GNU Free Documentation License.
© Crown copyright 2011, Department for Education. This resource has been created through the LinkedUp Award Scheme.
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