Dominico of Settmour Swamp - Silver Rapier

Sharp and on Point We find Dominico
Ideally represents what fencing is.
Lo, do We Ioaness & Honig the 
Virtuous Rulers of these incredible 
Eastern Lands -  
Regarding his prowess on the fields and 
Reports of study, teaching and service 
Arrange today for him to be bestowed
Praise and a deserved Silver Rapier
In Our words, at Mudthaw, Return to the Mud
Encompassed by Our Barony of Settmour Swamp
Received on March 26th, AS LVI

Word Count 73

Being a

Literary catalog

Of

Garrulous excess

When I got this assignment, the only information I had was that Magdalena was planning on fitting the scroll to an 8x10 sheet of paper - considerably smaller than some of her pieces in the past.  So I knew I would have to keep the word count down.  

 

Not having any particular theme or time period, I toyed around with a couple of styles.  The recipient’s wiki had few details but a couple of photos showed him in later period garb, so I didn’t want to write it in any of the Norse or Chaucer styles. But I also didn't want to go too late in period as that might mean iambic pentameter - where angels fear to tread (or at least I do).

Then I remembered about Acrostic Poetry!  Its usage covers many centuries from Ancient Greece through the Renaissance.  The Dutch National Anthem  is acrostic and spells out Willem van Nassovon (William the “Silent”) each verse, and dates back to 1572.

I chose to make the scroll an acrostic on SILVER RAPIER, and spelled that vertically down the page:

S

I

L

V

E

R

R

A

P

I

E

R

I wrote each line and then adjusted the first word to make it begin with the correct letter. I started with a number of fencing puns I'd found, such as “Sharp and on point.” I gave myself a 10 syllable limit per line and then promptly ignored it throughout the scroll.

S Sharp and on Point We find Dominico

I Ideally represents what fencing is.

L Lo, do We Ioaness & Honig the 

V Virtuous Rulers of these incredible 

E  Eastern Lands -  

R Regarding his prowess on the fields and 

R  Reports of study, teaching and service 

A Arrange today for him to be bestowed

P Praise and a deserved Silver Rapier

I In Our words, at Mudthaw, Return to the Mud

E Encompassed by Our Barony of Settmour Swamp

R Received on March 26th, AS LVI

I felt I hit the beats of the scroll and required bits of information well.  I kept it to 73 words which should easily fit. I definitely leaned hard on Thesaurus.com and members of my household to think of appropriate words - that's how I landed on “Encompassed” which was a fun word to work in!

This scroll was fun to write and came together well. I need to remember to do them again.  There are a lot of variants to the acrostic poem that are period and even more difficult and I look forward to the challenge!

Photo by Chana Freidl the Maker

                       

East Kingdom Gazette: Court Report: Mudthaw- Return to the Mud