A Under/ Our Bright/ Eastern sun
A We’ve Found/ one who/ has passion
X Our La/da Mon/guligan
A Ready/ with sharp/ wits and pun
X Takes to/ the field/ with fervor
A There's no/challenge/ she won't shun
X Puts forth/ effort/ building skills
A Fights with/ heart and/ compassion
A Hearing/ of this/ sword splitter
A There's no/ award/ that’s fitter!
X Acting/ Rulers/ of the East
A Brennan!/ Caoilfhionn!/ accord her
X Martial/ honor/ armigerous
A Silver/ Tyger's/ sheen glitters
X For skills/ that now / shine as a
A Bright gleam/ on a/ fast river
Hot off the presses!
I had literally just finished an AoA for Atlantia in Tang Dynasty poetry when I got the call from Fiona for this Silver Tyger. We had a 10 day turn around from composition to the presenting of the scroll in court. Fiona was okay with the words not matching the time/place of the scroll so I decided to use the Tang Poetry I had just put so much energy into. That scroll was unfortunately not given out. While usually I would put all of the research I had just finished into that scroll, due to its un-presented state, it will be included here instead.
I was initially looking for Tang dynasty poetry and found Lots of google searching ensued.
There were tantalizing hints of different kinds of the many poetic forms available. I spent some time on references to Lushi poetry Lüshi, Wade-Giles romanization lü-shih, a form of Chinese poetry that flourished in the Tang dynasty. It consists of eight lines of five or seven syllables, each line set down in accordance with strict tonal patterns. Lüshi provided a new, formal alternative to the long-popular free gushi (“ancient-style poetry”).
I was getting pretty frustrated at the overwhelming amounts of information I kept finding, but nothing that seemed to be helping me set on a poetic form. I reached out to friends that I know have expertise in Asian studies then I was pointed to the SCA Discord for Asian Poetry.
There I got enough keywords and phrases to find: A Short Selection of Tang Poems. This became the source I based the scroll on. Not only did it give me examples of the rhyme and how many lines poems contained, but it also discussed the nature of Tone pattern and how incompatible it is with English. I had to abandon the concept entirely for the composition. I chose to concentrate on the other aspects of rhyme and subject matter and to treat the tones as syllables.
The Rhyme scheme used:
8 lines, 7 syllables each AAXAXAXA
7 S S / L L / S S L (R)
7 L L / S S / S L L (R)
7 L L / S S / L L S
7 S S / L L / S S L (R)
7 S S / L L / L S S
7 L L / S S / S L L (R)
7L L / S S / L L S
7 S S / L L / S S L (R)
Through that source I also learned of the poet Lǐ Bái 李白 or Li Bo. And When Tang Dynasty poetry ruled the world and Li Bai English Translations. He’s considered one of the best writers of Tang Dynasty poetry. And I relied upon these translations particularly for the nature elements that were included.
VERSE ONE
A Under/ Our Bright/ Eastern sun
If there is one thing I have learned working this form, is that the first rhyme chosen has to be such a word that has many, many rhymes to go with it. Passion/Compassion, shun, sun & pun are not complete full hit rhymes. To borrow a phrase from Norse poetry. However, all in the same verse they are near enough rhymes that with the right pronunciation, they all work well together to make the rhymes work.
I used bright here to describe the sun, which I repeated below in the description of a river. Including references to nature is important in Asian poetry and I made sure to include it in the scroll.
A We’ve Found/ one who/ has passion
This sentence was originally the opening line. To be mirrored with the full hit rhyme of compassion at the end of the verse. I chose to switch the first and second line to better mirror the placement of the nature descriptions and for the end cap word of “bight.”
Passion was also chosen for its ability to describe the zeal and vast effort they have brought to their fighting since they started.
X Our La/da Mon/guligan
The first of the non rhymed sentences and the first one where I break the 2/2/3 syllable break. I had chosen to sort of translate the tone poetry into syllables for my interpretation. Here with the recipient’s name, I had to break the syllables in the middle of a word.
A Ready/ with sharp/ wits and pun
In the search for 5 words that sound well enough toget her to count as a rhyme, pun came up. And it became a chance to praise the recipient for sharp wits and a small reference to one time when we spent a fun couple of hours coming up with all the puns we could think of for a scroll. Being able to put in personal references, in the appropriate context of the scroll is a delightful aspect of scroll crafting!
X Takes to/ the field/ with fervor
With this sentence the piece begins to hone in on what the award is for.
A There's no/challenge/ she won't shun
A common description I was given was how excited the recipient was and how there was nothing that they wouldn't try. This sentence reflects that.
X Puts forth/ effort/ building skills
A reference to how their skills as a fighter were on a steady incline.
A Fights with/ heart and/ compassion
Compassion was one of the first rhymes for this set I included. It seemed to fit the essence of what the recommendation wanted to convey about the recipient. Its also the first time I mention fighting, and cements what kind of award that's being given.
VERSE TWO
A Hearing/ of this/ sword splitter
This verse went through about 3 different versions of the 5 word rhyme and eventually landed on splitter/glitter as the main rhymes to build on. The recommendation spoke of the recipient's pride when they split their sword and had to make another. I felt that moment had to be included!
A There's no/ award/ that’s fitter!
Once again I am hinting at the name of the award, but still not naming it.
X Acting/ Rulers/ of the East
I took some time finding the correct two syllable adjective here for Their Majesties. I chose the serving temporarily version. It fit the role of TRM very well and fit the tone of the scroll.
A Brennan!/ Caoilfhionn!/ accord her
Usually most punctuation included in the composition are there for the herald. Little clues as to how I say the words in my mind. With the unusually brief description of TRM, I hoped the punctuation would indicate to the voice herald to emphasize Their Majesties Names. To use their performance to compensate for the brevity of words.
X Martial/ honor/ armigerous
Once again I am describing the award. I could have used this space for more effusive description of TRM, but at this point I had worked them into the scroll and was moving forward to the end.
A Silver/ Tyger's/ sheen glitters
Finally the award has been named! The reason why splitter was chosen as the rhyme word! Glitter. Much to my surprise, glitter is a period word!
Its etymology proved to have many period origins found in Old English, Old Norse and Old High German. That glitter was period cemented its use as the rhymed word.
X For skills/ that now / shine as a
I research all these forms of poetry to just break them. The other needs of the scroll outweigh the needs of the many… Er, the needs of period accuracy.
(Kind of appropriate that Spellcheck initially changed needs to nerds as I drop a Star Trek reference)
A Bright gleam/ on a/ fast river
Here with the last sentence is the second reference to nature. The repeated bright and evoking image of a river the scroll comes to an end.
I truly enjoyed writing this scroll. The poetry form is new and has a great deal of my interpretation of how to represent it.
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