Oh right..
So it should be also structured XxxXxXx (X=stressed, x=unstressed)? That's far more tricky of course; I'll have to think about that..

As I wrote, I am not sure, but it looks suspiciously like a pentameter.

-----
my blog: footprints

Btw, as I see now, Tolkien wrote a _septenarius_ in Qenya (PE14:46) - I think it enormously reinforces this suspicion.

Would that be a pentameter:
Glinga i Rawn or galað, blába i lasseg vedui.
?

To all appearances, no, half-a-meter too long both halves. To make it clear when I talk about pentameter I mean the classic one, not the English iambic P, so the German wikipedia is of better use now:

- u u | - u u | - || - u u | - u u | -

- where the dactyli (- u u) can be replaced by spondei (- -)

Pentameter

So you see, Glin-ga-i | Rawn-or | ga- ||, as the 'or' is a closed syllable because of the following 'g'.

IMHO

-----
my blog: footprints

The two incomplete metrical feet can also be short, aren’t they?

- u u | - u u | u ||
- u u | - u u | u

Ónen i-estel edain,
Ú-chebin estel anim.

Yes, they can be short. The trick here is, if the short syllable end with a consonant, it more or less feels long at the end of the line, at least longer than if it ended with a vowel.

-----
my blog: footprints

Mhm.. If I get it right, the classical pentameter was based on syllable length and the new one on stress instead (at least in German). Actually, I just had the stress pattern 'Ónen i-Estel Edain, Ú-chebin Estel anim' in mind, but even with the syllable length:

Gling-a i | Rawn or ga- | lað || blába i | lass-eg ve- | dui.

There is just a flaw in the short _-lað_, but there is the same is in _an-im_.
Isn't that right?

>as the 'or' is a closed syllable because of the following 'g'.

You mean it becomes a _long_ one, looking across the word boundaries (orgalað)? Otherwise I don't understand..

Yes, I meant long. The problem with your solution is still in the second metres IMHO, 'rawn-or' is in itself a complete spondeus, as the second half is also long because of the following consonant. At least in classical style. If we rely on stress alone, it would pass for a pentameter, and it is quite possible that in Sindarin we should stick to that. Quenya is another matter, I feel she is much more suitable for classic metric poetry.

-----
my blog: footprints

I think it would be nice if it fulfilled all the criteria (length, stress, 2x7 syllables) as Gilraen'S Linnod does, so that it can in any way remain a linnod, even when we'll eventually know what a linnod actually is. :-)

This makes a linnod even more difficult to compose, however.. Well, my new version is now:
Glinga i Rawn o galað, blába i lasseg erui.

(Btw, is there no problem that I have put this into the haiku section? :-))

well, we can change the title of the section into "experiments with various verse-forms":)

-----
my blog: footprints