Mi Contra Fa

KASF Smackdown 1

I am not quite ready to commit yet - give me a day or two - but it looks like Kingdom Arts and Sciences is in my future!  This means I need to get something together for the Duke Gyrth Oldcastle Memorial Poetry Smackdown ready post-haste.

A Gyrth-inspired Poem from 1492-1600
Form: Shakespearian Sonnet
What I learned: The volta isn't always the final couplet!

First Draft

Our loss as deeply felt as yester joys
How can we smile with tears in our eyes?
We weep, we mourn, o sorrowful noise
When one so loved, dear friend, grows sick and dies.
How bright his life, how glad his laughter loud
His mind, as sharp as pointed quill, ink-dipp'd,
To scribe his poems for grateful crowds
His heart that loved, til laid in darkened crypt.
But smile we do, when think on him we can
His japes, his jests, and all his kindness did
Philosophy he's left us, life-long plan.
Remember well these words, Sir Gyrth has bid:
“Say I: A little song, a little dance,
And then a little seltzer down my pants.”

Five-Minute Documentation

Like everyone else in the US school system, I studied a few Shakespearian sonnets in school.  From that, and from hanging around a sonneteer in the SCA, I picked up the idea that a Shakespearian sonnet developed a single idea, which the final couplet then added a reversal or 'zinger' to.  "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun" was the usual example.

I can't claim that a trip to Sonnets.org is anything like in-depth research, but it  has brought me one tiny spoonful of dirt deeper into the subject.  Their page on the basic sonnet forms (http://www.sonnets.org/basicforms.htm) discusses the volta, or turn, present in the original Italian form.  The rhyme words change, and with them, the thrust of the poem.

A Shakespearian sonnet, with its less restrictive rhyme scheme, doesn't insist on three turns to match the three changes.  The volta *can* occur in the couplet, but it can also occur elsewhere.  The ninth line is the traditional location in the Italian form, and Shakespeare puts it there sometimes, too.  Sonnets.org gives Sonnet XXIX ("When in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes") as an example.  The first eight lines have the poet lamenting his bad fortune in talent, connections and money.  At the ninth line, be begins to remember how happy his love makes him, until he would 'scorn to change his state with kings.'

I regret that I did not know Sir Gyrth, so I based my sonnet off of the eulogy by Starulf Haraldson of Ravenspur, posted to the Clan Oldcastle website (http://www.clanoldcastle.com/wordpress/?page_id=16).  He said that Gyrth once requested the words of 'Chuckles,' whom I am guessing was a clown character on the Mary Tyler Moore Show, be read at his funeral:  "A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down my pants.”  The iambic tetrameter couplet jumped out at me, and I thought that (with a few syllables of padding) it could serve as the final couplet of a Shakespearean sonnet.

The two themes of the sonnet are "Loss and Grief" followed by "Celebration," with the volta coming at line 9.

Beowulf Birthday Bash

First, before I forget - one of the reasons "Veni" was giving me such a headache was that I had it in the wrong mode. It's Mixolydian, not Lydian.  Now that I'm starting on the right note, it works great.

I've had the week from Introvert Hell (four 10-11 hour days of business conference) so I was not as well-practiced, well-rested or even coherent as I might have been.  But!  I had a lovely time.

Got to sit with the Bright Hills Bards, who are always awesome. 

Entered a bunch of old stuff into the Northern European A&S display.

Showed a few interested folks the lyre; Mistress Molly very generously gifted me with veil pins for the demonstration.

The Anglo-Saxon poetry class had four! students, who followed right along and said I was making sense.  We didn't do a writing exercise, at least partly because I forgot to bring paper and pens for it. D'oh.  So (since at least 3/4 were performers) we talked performance modes instead.

Also in good scop fashion, after I performed "Beocat," I was asked to do it again for the kitchen folks.  Kitchen folks approved and offered me a small measure of mead. Yum!

Got to geek out a bit about my garb with Aaradyn.  Possibly a bit too much...  ("Why did you pick purple and red?"  "Oh! Blah blah Arnegunde blah blah round pins blah pin suite blah blah")  Pleased to report that the chained pin suite/belt combo works very well to  hold the coat/robe in place in lieu of the round pins.

Ooh, also on the costuming front: Since it was chilly, I wore the wool veil I made originally to go with this ensemble.  As it is a bit heavy, I put on my gold-threaded headband (just for bling), then over it put a linen cap from Revival Clothing.  I pinned the heavy veil right to the cap instead of to the headband.  Worked like a charm!  (Got the idea from this book, I think. Or possibly this one.)

I went outside to say hello to Aaradyn and Baron William, and Aaradyn introduced me to her Highness, who was lovely.  We spoke for a bit about poetry and music, and Baron William said some very nice things (apparently I wrote a poem about armoring? And he's kept it?  Very sweet!)

Finally: the performance!  It was not error-free, unsurprisingly, but I think it went very well.  I was not pleased with myself for being on-book, and my eye contact for those pieces was sketchy at best, but life's life.  Despite all my good intentions, practice has just not been happening - although I wonder if it may, soon.  It feels sort of like my energies are swinging back into this.  Still, self-care first - work has picked up with a lot more responsibilities and I need to do things like get exercise and play with the kids.  All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.  One thing at a time.

Miracle, New Joys!

This was a quick and dirty translation of Verbum patris humanatur O O, based on the liner notes and performance of Gothic Voices on their recording, "The Earliest Songbook in England."  We're doing an Anglo-Saxon Yule demo in a little over a month and I wanted to have something ready for it.  It's one of the later Cambridge songs and dates to around 1200, and it's a Christmas hymn.  Pretty standard fare: Christ is born of a virgin, this is a new thing, peace and joy!  There was one delightful line about "The Creator becomes one with creation" that I couldn't quite shoehorn in this go-round, and what I subsituted (that Christ will end death) is not in the original.  It is a rather common sentiment elsewhere; I know I saw it in "Christ and Satan" when I was researching "Christ and Theseus."

That constitutes the entirety of my documentation for this one!

 

 

Word of God is made a man, sing O O
Angel takes the maiden's hand, sing O O
She agrees to heaven's plan
And she will bear a boy
Hei! Hei!
Miracle, new joys!

Such a thing has ne'er been known, sing O O
None so born but Christ alone, sing O O
Creator steps from off his throne
And death he will destroy
Hei! Hei!
Miracle, new joys!

Strange and holy is this thing, sing O O
Salvation to the world he brings, sing O O
Modest maiden's praises sing
Our voices we employ
Hei! Hei!
Miracle, new joys!

Gift to all is born our Lord, sing O O
Earth and heaven him adore, sing O O
God and man in sweet accord
And peace we shall enjoy
Hei! Hei!
Miracle, new joys!

Christ and Theseus

Documentation can be found here.

Theseus bold   Athenian prince
Away to Crete    walks the sea-road
Seven youths    and seven maids
Sacrifices    to sins of the queen

Mighty warrior    Minotaur mains
Kills the monster    Cretan horror
Steals the princess    stealthy departs
With children of Athens    creeping for home
Hero he's called    for hard-won battle

How much more honor    heaven bestows
To Lord on High    who harrowed hell
Descended the depths    devil to fight
Satan he's conquered    sin's first father
Ancient enemy    evil's own author
Tough-hided minotaur    mere thrall in his hall
But Christ defeats him    drives him down deep
Binds him in chains    chastises him well

No mere fourteen    led forth from that place
Just forefathers     gentle virgins
Righteous prophets    pagans of virtue
Died in darkness    devil did claim them
But no longer he holds them    the Lord sets them free
Leads them all laughing    to light-lands above
Til one remains        - Mother Eve

Ariadne was left    languished on Naxos
Eve asks for mercy    in Mary's name
Bright daughter descended    from sinful woman
Of her Christ was born    brought into the world
One sacrifice for all    even for Eve
He lifts her up    helps her to heaven

Most mighty hero    all hall-fame his due
No man surpasses    his masterful deeds
Praise his name        people who hear this

Wild Goose Flies

Yee-es.  It's been a while, hasn't it?  I discovered video games.  It's been great fun but absorbing.

But we've got Baronial Birthday this weekend and their Excellencies need a departing poem.  I've written one for Johanna and one for Sean and Elizabeth, so I mean to do one for Rorik and Janina.  What with the "goose thing" they have, a goose motif presents itself. 

I mean, geese.  They fly away.  It works for leave-taking.

This was a first draft, written Friday night on an airplane:

A flock of geese gladdens summer days
Harmonious honking heralds them
Bills are bright in gorse-grey faces

But autumn arrives early this year
Geese all gather; goslings have fledged
Soon they take flight, fast-beating wings
Southward they travel, seeking warm weather
Wise are the geese! who go in the fall,
Return in the spring - soon they come back
No long parting this - the patterns of life

I left a blank space after the "bills are bright" line, thinking there needed to be some kind of bridge and yeah, there really does.

Welcome in croft to craft their nests
Raise their goslings at river's edge
Dwell with us - abide a while

Aahh. That's better.

This was... overall better than I thought it was when I wrote it.  It may just do.

O Come, My Sweetest Lover

This never got posted as a finished product?

O come, my sweetest lover
And ah and oh
What pleasures we'll discover
And ah and oh and ah and oh

I'm dying with desire
And ah and oh
To love-making I aspire
And ah and oh and ah and oh

So with your key come swiftly
And ah and oh
My door will open quickly
And ah and oh and ah and oh

Text: Translation of one of the Cambridge Songs (c. 1050-1100, likely Continental German in origin. Original text in Latin.)
Tune: Original, meant to be somewhat evocative of chant

Slippery like sand

I've had the Winchester Troper "Kyrie" on repeat in the car for a few days now and I still can't say I've got the thing memorized.  There are so many notes, so much stepwise motion, so few syllables to help remember what comes next - I am not at all surprised that this style of music required the invention of a system of notation.  Nor does the form of the earliest notation surprise me - I find myself thinking that just a wavy line to help me remember if the next step is up or down or on a new syllable would be perfect.

I'm also making no progress in directly adapting the tune to the Nam languens poem.  The antiphonal verses are so different than the "Kyrie" itself - it works for that song, as structured, but it really doesn't work for a cohesive single poem.  And the music of just the "Kyrie" proper is just too short to stretch over eight lines.

So I really need to tuck the "Kyrie" into the back of my head as inspiration and just compose new music.

Languens: Tune

I'm much enamored of a "Kyrie" from the Winchester Troper.  It's organum, but just the tenor line works as a simple and melancholy melody.  It won't readily port over directly, though.  It's A-B-A-C-A' structured, I think (Kyrie eleison, antiphon 1, Christe eleison, antiphon 2, Kyrie eleison).  I figure I'm either going to adapt the A or longer A' tune and repeat it four times (bleah) or through-compose a short tune 'based on' or 'inspired by' the Kyrie.  (By which I mean, "Stealing several of the coolest phrases, including the awesome cadences, and filling in the gaps with appropriate stepwise motion.")

A Poetic Cycle

A "problem" with "Nam languens" and "Veni, delectissime" is that they're so short.  I say "problem" because it's strictly a problem of perception and staging.  Bardic performances are supposed to go 3-5 minutes.  Long pieces show more skill than short pieces (not really but that's the perception). 

Now, there's nothing stopping me from going off and tackling the Battle of Maldon or Brunaburgh as a lengthy performance.  (Possibly too lengthy...)  But I've put a good bit of work into these shorter, lyric pieces, so I thought - how about combining them into a longer poetic cycle? 

Start with "Veni, delectissime" - two people in love.

Then, any combination of "Wulf and Eadwacer," "The Wife's Lament," and "Nam languens."  "Deor" could fit as well (it has been suggested as a partner to "Wulf and Eadwacer," with Deor and Wulf being the same man) but the first three all have female speakers.  "Deor" would be a sudden shift of point of view... although it could work...

End with "The Husband's Message."

Thematically, it would go:

Sensual love and joy (Veni)
Forcible separation, longing and danger (Wulf)
Meditation on bad times; looking forward to better times (Deor)
More longing, hoping for reunion (Nam languens)
Reunion (Husband's Message)

"Wife's Lament" is a bit of an odd duck with many possible interpretations; the more I think about it, the more I think I'd rather leave it out, at least for now.

The most obvious flaw in this cunning plan is that mixing the Latin and Old English verses into a "cycle" is really dodgy.  Of course, I'm not in the least actually proposing that these poems belonged together originally.  It's just a nice "program" for presentation.

"Veni" and "Wulf" are performance-ready.  I hope to have "Nam languens" done in a reasonable amount of time.  The biggest project would be learning/adapting "The Husband's Message," but I've meant to learn it for years now.  It's a touchingly sweet poem.

"Languishing" Second Draft

• Returned to past tense
• Used best line I had to cut from before, but had to use approximate rhyme
• Some lines start with an unstress, some with a stress.  "Good enough for folk music"?
• First four lines end "stress-unstress," last four end on "stress."
• Is it legit to rhyme "sea" with "see"?
• Line 3 forces a stress on "With" which is sub-optimal
• Line 4: "flurries."  Really?  Do I really think that's a good idea?  I really prefer the "go/snow" rhyme... can I handle the changing tenses?  Should I leave it all present tense, or is that too "fifteen year old writing sad poetry"?
• Line 8: I added "your" to try and take the stress off of "Or" but... I'm not sure if it naturally reads "YOUR SHIP'S bow" or "YOUR ship's BOW."  If it's the former, I should just drop the "your."  Or... something. Once you get the stresses right, it flows, but it seems like you could say it a few ways.

My love for you, a constant aching
I rose from bed as dawn was breaking
With bare-footed steps I hurried
Through the cold and snowy flurries
Until I gazed on empty sea
Hoping yet that I would see
White sails filled with winter wind
Or your ship's bow come home again

Time to also start thinking about music, lest I find an awesome tune and realize I have to totally change everything to work with it...