KEY
A
C
R
O
S
T
I
C
Letters vertically depend on the Acrostic Word Choice
Ten Syllables
Double Acrostic - the last letter is the same as the first letter per line
S She’s been known to admire roses
I Intricate, dangerous, in strength, known hereby
L Lovely to see but opponents fear to run afoul.
V Verily today does the East show its luv
E Endeared to gentles with passion and drive
R Royal Majesties Matthias & Feilinn favor
T Those that show finesse with sword and shield, both!
Y Your talents improve so swift and timely
G Great is Our pride, We have now sung
E Encouraging those that catch Our notice
R Respect to Mægwynn Filia Brun newest Silver Tyger!
Done at the First Court of The Coronation of Matthias and Æsa Feilinn, in the Province of Malagentia, Anno Societatis Fifty Eight
Second Bloom
The first round of research for this scroll was with a definite cast toward a Norse scroll. As the second scroll-rose in my reet of roses, I started looking for some sort of reference of roses to the Norse. I was not very hopeful. Somehow I couldn’t imagine a rose being found in medieval Jórvík in the early 10th Century, as per the recipient’s wiki.
I did find Grumpy Lokean Elder, essentially someone’s blog where they’d attributed several kinds of flower to Norse deities. They did describe Sunna in association with the flowers - heliotrope, morning glory, sunflower, coreopsis, marigold. Unsurprisingly, the search for a flower that wasn’t available in the North of Europe in that time period was not surprising.
Then I had a conversation with Ellesbeth Donofrey, the illuminator.
Ellsebeth had reached out to several people close to the recipient and they all mentioned their love of roses.
RECORD SCRATCH!
She wanted to do a later period scroll so as to focus on the morning glory!
I suggested an acrostic poem.
The acrostic word is the name of the award, SIlver Tyger. For my own amusement I decided to make it a double acrostic. There are some sporadic examples of double acrostics or Sator squares found from the Roman period through the Late Middle Ages.
Initially, there was no plan for additional research. It was, however, reassuring to discover that this particular form, the double acrostic, was found in the ancient world and the middle ages.
FIRST ACROSTIC WORD: Silver
S She’s been known to admire roses
Starting the ball rolling with an allusion to the work the recipient had done on the Queen's Guard.
I Intricate, dangerous, in strength, known hereby
This became an allusion to the recipient herself and the winding vines and strangling strength of the morning glory. This also made it more applicable to the fighting prowess of the Silver Tyger.
L Lovely to see but opponents fear to run afoul.
As a flower is beautiful to look at, they all have defenses and offenses! The nature of a flower is more than beauty, and this fighter on the field is as dangerous.
V Verily today does the East show its luv
I try so hard not to use Victorian words and spellings. That is, until I do use them. Luv was chosen specifically because it ended in V. The calligrapher used the love spelling, but I kept the luv in the heraldic copy. It certainly has the same effect with the silent E, but the V, while anachronistic, keeps the proper double acrostic. These are the rules I make for myself and then break when I have a need.
E Endeared to gentles with passion and drive
Vindication for the use of luv above! Which no one will ever notice, but me, and that's okay. Drive ends in the silent e, but I am counting it as E for the alliteration! Ha!
R Royal Majesties Matthias & Feilinn favor
Back on more solid ground with R. There are solid beginning and end acrostics happening here
SECOND ACROSTIC WORD: Tyger
T Those that show finesse with sword and shield, both!
Even though there is a word break, the Scroll continues as if there is none. With a little more description of the recipient’s chosen weapon form.
Y Your talents improve so swift and timely
In order to configure the Y into the piece, there Was a slight perspective change. Having the scroll refer to the recipient directly. Addressing them as "you." While this was done entirety to accommodate the acrostic, it also added more descriptions of the recipient that were pertinent to the award.
G Great is Our pride, We have now sung
Sung is equivalent to said here. A bit more poetic and evokes the phrase, “To sing one’s praises.”
E Encouraging those that catch Our notice
A great deal of emphasis in the East Kingdom is put on encouragement. From an individual, one on one encouragement, to TRM giving awards as encouragement for one to continue in their path. To include that in a scroll is incredibly appropriate and one of the best things about our awards system.
R Respect to Mægwynn Filia Brun newest Silver Tyger!
In the last sentence of the Acrostic the recipient’s name and the award are mentioned.
Done at the First Court of The Coronation of Matthias and Æsa Feilinn, in the Province of Malagentia, Anno Societatis Fifty Eight
The last bits of information that need to be included in the scroll. This was written for Their New Majesties, and as such, I included all the bells and whistles, as it were. The full name of the event, that included the full names of Their Majesties, the full name of the hosting group and full spelling of Anno Societatis.
Initially, there was no plan for additional research, and yet I managed anyway. There's so much more to learn about acrostics. It was really nice to sit down and take a moment before I work on on the scroll. The difficulty of the double acrostic was delicious. It’s not even something that the audience may notice when the herald reads it in court. However, it is a wonderful challenge, and adds delightful nuance to the scroll. I really did have fun creating this piece!
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