Hear the boom! crack! clap! of the cannonade,
the wallop of weapons ‘neath the white-hot sun.
Hundreds of hearts hammering in concert
As they man the meadow en masse to glory
Strength of mind significant to stratagem
Amid the anarchy of the general assault
Seamus mac Neachtain
The competent, courageous commander
Vanguard to view Kingdom to victory,
We, Wilhelm König with Vienna Königin,
Solemnly Swear him into the Order of the Silver Wheel
Reflective of the Southern Region Army repute,
Seen successful for Sovereign .
Done this day and dutifully recorded at
Shire Wars VIII, the Battle of Hastings
On the 20th of October, A.S. LIII.
Color Coded Version
The first letter of the alliterated words are highlighted red.
Hear the boom! crack! clap! of the cannonade,
the wallop of weapons ‘neath the white-hot sun.
Hundreds of hearts hammering in concert
As they man the meadow en masse to glory
Strength of mind significant to stratagem
Amid the anarchy of the general assault
Seamus mac Neachtain
The competent, courageous commander
Vanguard to view Kingdom to victory,
We, Wilhelm König with Vienna Königin,
Solemnly Swear him into the Order of the Silver Wheel
Reflective of the Southern Region Army repute,
Seen successful for Sovereign .
Done this day and dutifully recorded at
Shire Wars VIII, the Battle of Hastings
On the 20th of October, A.S. LIII.
Blather for Bloggy Goodness
At Baronial Investiture & King’s and Queen’s Bardic Championships Lady Violet Hughes and I got to talking about Calligraphy, Illumination and Wordsmithing. One thing led to another and she sent me the words for a Backlog Silver Wheel that she had been having a hard time with. After I finished the words, she sent the scroll to Lady Fiona the Volatile for the Illuminatioin.This was a fun collaboration with two of my favorite people in the world.
The words Violet sent me:
Hear the thunderous boom of the canon, the clash of weapons under a blazing hot sun. The excited shouts of hundreds of people with their hearts pumping and their minds full of glory. It takes a man strong of mind to apply the strategy and tactics amid the chaos of battle to lead the Kingdom to victory, and a strong voice to command the troops onward. Seamus mac Neachtain is this man, commander of the Southern Region Army. We, Wilhelm König and Vienna Königin, have decided to induct him into the Order of the Silver Wheel to reflect on the good work he displays during the Pennsic Battles. Done at Shire Wars VIII, the Battle of Hastings on the 20th of October, A.S. LIII.
Now my first thought was to turn it into some sort of Hamilton Filk Scroll. “Hear the thunderous boom of the canon” in particular inspired that thought of a Hamilton filk. My mind turned to the
Lyrics from Right Hand Man:
[HAMILTON]
Yo, let’s steal their cannons—
[MULLIGAN] [COMPANY]
Shh-boom! Boom!
[WASHINGTON]
Goes the cannon, watch the blood and the shit spray and…
[COMPANY]
Boom!
[WASHINGTON]
Goes the cannon, we’re abandonin’ Kips Bay and…
[COMPANY]
Boom!
Now I could imagine an amazing scroll full of Hamilton references or a filk. But that is the sort of thing that you write out for someone that you are absolutely certain will appreciate it. I wouldn’t write one for a stranger. So although inspired, I set that idea aside and moved on to a new one.
I tend to favor poetic scrolls those that use the strict poetic forms. The East Kingdom wiki page for Seamus mac Neachtain was largely a stub with nothing but a photo, that I can only assume is him, wearing a Norse hood. As such, I turned to Anglo Saxon poetry or Old English poetry. The poetry of Beowulf, the infamous Norse Saga.
The poetic form follows the pattern of each line being 10 syllables with at least 3 words starting with the same consonant. As with any poetic form, there are more subtleties in the structure, but that covers the basics.
My second challenge was to keep the word count down. I have a tendency to go on and could easily make a 500 word count scroll. Violet’s original word count was 125 and my goal was to keep to that as much as possible. I am proud that I kept it to 106 words. Following the strict syllabic structure aided in that.
Essentially I broke down each sentence that Violet originally wrote and rewrote it with the 10 syllable count and the matching consents.
Dictionary/Thesaurus.com and Rhyme Zone are my best tools for these kinds of projects.It does make me wonder how the ancients did this kind of poetry without such tools! I would be forever trying to think of an appropriate rhyme.
I did not keep it strictly to the 10 syllable line. Many of them go to 11 syllables long and a couple a bit more than that. When it came to his name, I was unsure how to pronounce it correctly and therefore couldn’t correctly count syllables. Therefore, his name became its own line.
The last line of the scroll, the date and location of the event I also dropped the cadence entirely. Sometimes that’s necessary when conforming the poetic form of old and the information needed for the East Kingdom Scroll.
Shire Wars VIII, the Battle of Hastings
On the 20th of October, A.S. LIII.
Of course there are things I would do differently had I seen them then.
Hundreds of hearts hammering in concert
I should have done:
Hundreds of hearts hammer in harmony
It stays within the 10 syllable limit and throws in another alliterative word.
I sent it off to Violet who calligraphed it beautifully and she sent it to Fiona for the illumination. Making it truly a trifecta of collaboration.
ETA:
It is with a heavy heart I report that Seamus mac Neachtain suddenly passed away this past June, 2019. While I did not know him many of my friends did and I grieve with them. It is my understanding that he had received the backlog scroll and loved it. That he loved it, however briefly, is why we pour our hearts and souls into each piece of art we produce.
the wallop of weapons ‘neath the white-hot sun.
Hundreds of hearts hammering in concert
As they man the meadow en masse to glory
Strength of mind significant to stratagem
Amid the anarchy of the general assault
Seamus mac Neachtain
The competent, courageous commander
Vanguard to view Kingdom to victory,
We, Wilhelm König with Vienna Königin,
Solemnly Swear him into the Order of the Silver Wheel
Reflective of the Southern Region Army repute,
Seen successful for Sovereign .
Done this day and dutifully recorded at
Shire Wars VIII, the Battle of Hastings
On the 20th of October, A.S. LIII.
Color Coded Version
The first letter of the alliterated words are highlighted red.
Hear the boom! crack! clap! of the cannonade,
the wallop of weapons ‘neath the white-hot sun.
Hundreds of hearts hammering in concert
As they man the meadow en masse to glory
Strength of mind significant to stratagem
Amid the anarchy of the general assault
Seamus mac Neachtain
The competent, courageous commander
Vanguard to view Kingdom to victory,
We, Wilhelm König with Vienna Königin,
Solemnly Swear him into the Order of the Silver Wheel
Reflective of the Southern Region Army repute,
Seen successful for Sovereign .
Done this day and dutifully recorded at
Shire Wars VIII, the Battle of Hastings
On the 20th of October, A.S. LIII.
Blather for Bloggy Goodness
At Baronial Investiture & King’s and Queen’s Bardic Championships Lady Violet Hughes and I got to talking about Calligraphy, Illumination and Wordsmithing. One thing led to another and she sent me the words for a Backlog Silver Wheel that she had been having a hard time with. After I finished the words, she sent the scroll to Lady Fiona the Volatile for the Illuminatioin.This was a fun collaboration with two of my favorite people in the world.
The words Violet sent me:
Hear the thunderous boom of the canon, the clash of weapons under a blazing hot sun. The excited shouts of hundreds of people with their hearts pumping and their minds full of glory. It takes a man strong of mind to apply the strategy and tactics amid the chaos of battle to lead the Kingdom to victory, and a strong voice to command the troops onward. Seamus mac Neachtain is this man, commander of the Southern Region Army. We, Wilhelm König and Vienna Königin, have decided to induct him into the Order of the Silver Wheel to reflect on the good work he displays during the Pennsic Battles. Done at Shire Wars VIII, the Battle of Hastings on the 20th of October, A.S. LIII.
Now my first thought was to turn it into some sort of Hamilton Filk Scroll. “Hear the thunderous boom of the canon” in particular inspired that thought of a Hamilton filk. My mind turned to the
Lyrics from Right Hand Man:
[HAMILTON]
Yo, let’s steal their cannons—
[MULLIGAN] [COMPANY]
Shh-boom! Boom!
[WASHINGTON]
Goes the cannon, watch the blood and the shit spray and…
[COMPANY]
Boom!
[WASHINGTON]
Goes the cannon, we’re abandonin’ Kips Bay and…
[COMPANY]
Boom!
Now I could imagine an amazing scroll full of Hamilton references or a filk. But that is the sort of thing that you write out for someone that you are absolutely certain will appreciate it. I wouldn’t write one for a stranger. So although inspired, I set that idea aside and moved on to a new one.
I tend to favor poetic scrolls those that use the strict poetic forms. The East Kingdom wiki page for Seamus mac Neachtain was largely a stub with nothing but a photo, that I can only assume is him, wearing a Norse hood. As such, I turned to Anglo Saxon poetry or Old English poetry. The poetry of Beowulf, the infamous Norse Saga.
The poetic form follows the pattern of each line being 10 syllables with at least 3 words starting with the same consonant. As with any poetic form, there are more subtleties in the structure, but that covers the basics.
My second challenge was to keep the word count down. I have a tendency to go on and could easily make a 500 word count scroll. Violet’s original word count was 125 and my goal was to keep to that as much as possible. I am proud that I kept it to 106 words. Following the strict syllabic structure aided in that.
Essentially I broke down each sentence that Violet originally wrote and rewrote it with the 10 syllable count and the matching consents.
Dictionary/Thesaurus.com and Rhyme Zone are my best tools for these kinds of projects.It does make me wonder how the ancients did this kind of poetry without such tools! I would be forever trying to think of an appropriate rhyme.
I did not keep it strictly to the 10 syllable line. Many of them go to 11 syllables long and a couple a bit more than that. When it came to his name, I was unsure how to pronounce it correctly and therefore couldn’t correctly count syllables. Therefore, his name became its own line.
The last line of the scroll, the date and location of the event I also dropped the cadence entirely. Sometimes that’s necessary when conforming the poetic form of old and the information needed for the East Kingdom Scroll.
Shire Wars VIII, the Battle of Hastings
On the 20th of October, A.S. LIII.
Of course there are things I would do differently had I seen them then.
Hundreds of hearts hammering in concert
I should have done:
Hundreds of hearts hammer in harmony
It stays within the 10 syllable limit and throws in another alliterative word.
I sent it off to Violet who calligraphed it beautifully and she sent it to Fiona for the illumination. Making it truly a trifecta of collaboration.
ETA:
It is with a heavy heart I report that Seamus mac Neachtain suddenly passed away this past June, 2019. While I did not know him many of my friends did and I grieve with them. It is my understanding that he had received the backlog scroll and loved it. That he loved it, however briefly, is why we pour our hearts and souls into each piece of art we produce.
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